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The Librar
y
of
Literary History
Cjp f ibrarg of f iterarg History
A LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIA. By R. W.
Frazer, LL.B.
A LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND. By Douglas
Hyde, LL.D.
A LITERARY HISTORY OF AMERICA. By Barrett
Wendell.
A LITERARY HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. By J. H.
Millar, LL.B.
A LITERARY HISTORY OF PERSIA. By Edward
G. Browne, M.A. (In Two Volumes.)
Other Volumes in Preparation.
A LITERARY HISTORY OF RUSSIA. By E. H.
Minns.
A LITERARY HISTORY OF ARABIA. By R. A.
Nicholson, M.A.
A LITERARY HISTORY OF ROME. By J. Wight
Duff, M.A.
A LITERARY HISTORY OF THE JEWS. By Israel
Abrahams, M.A.
A LITERARY HISTORY OF SPAIN. By James Fitz-
maurice-Kelly.
A LITERARY HISTORY OF FRANCE.
ETC. ETC. ETC.
THE LI BR ART
OF
LITERARY HISTORY
A Literary History of Ireland
CASE OF
MOLAISE'S
GOSPELS.
Literary History
of Ireland
From Earliest Times to the Present Day
By
Douglas Hyde, LL.D., M.R.I.A.v
[An Craoibhin Aoibhinn]
FOURTH IMPRESSION
London
T. Fisher Unwin
Adelphi Terrace
1906
139530
pe> \yoi*
[All rights reserved.]
OeDication.
TO THE MEMBERS OF THE GAELIC LEAGUE,
THE ONLY BODY IN IRELAND WHICH APPEARS TO
REALISE THE FACT THAT IRELAND HAS A PAST, HAS A
HISTORY, HAS A LITERATURE, AND THE ONLY BODY IN
IRELAND WHICH SEEKS TO RENDER THE PRESENT A
RATIONAL CONTINUATION OF THE PAST,
I DEDICATE
THIS ATTEMPT AT A REVIEW OF THAT LITERATURE
WHICH DESPITE ITS PRESENT NEGLECTED POSITION
THEY FEEL AND KNOW TO BE A TRUE
POSSESSION OF NATIONAL
IMPORTANCE.
DO CHONNRADH NA GAEDHEILGE.
A Chonnradh chaoin, a Chonnradh choir,
Rinn obair mhdr gan or gan cabhair,
Glacaidh an cios a dlighim daoibh,
Guidhim, glacaidh go caoimh mo leabhar.
A chdirde cleibh is iomdha la
D ' oibrigheamar go bredgh le cheile,
Gan clampar, agus fds gan ead,
'S da mhead dr dieas', gan puinn di-cheille.
Chuireabhar suil 'san bhfear bhi dall,
Thugabhar cluas don fhear bhi bodhar,
Glacaidh an cios do bheirim daoibh,
Guidhim, glacaidh go caoimh mo leabhar.
PREFACE
The present volume has been styled — in order to make it a
companion book to other of Mr. Unwin's publications— a
" Literary History of Ireland," but a " Literary History of
Irish Ireland " would be a more correct title, for I have ab-
stained altogether from any analysis or even mention of the
works of Anglicised Irishmen of the last two centuries. Their
books, as those of Farquhar, of Swift, of Goldsmith, of Burke,
find, and have always found, their true and natural place in
every history of English literature that has been written,
whether by Englishmen themselves or by foreigners.
My object in this volume has been to give a general view of
the literature produced by the Irish-speaking Irish, and to
reproduce by copious examples some of its more salient, or at
least more characteristic features.
In studying the literature itself, both that of the past and
that of the present, one of the things which has most forcibly
struck me is the marked absence of the purely personal note,
the absence of great predominating names, or of great pre-
dominating works ; while just as striking is the almost uni-
versal diffusion of a traditional literary taste and a love of
literature in the abstract amongst all classes of the native Irish.
The whole history of Irish literature shows how warmly the
efforts of all who assisted in its production were appreciated.
IX
x PREFACE
The greatest English bard of the Elizabethan age was allowed
by his countrymen to perish of poverty in the streets of
London, while the pettiest chief of the meanest clan would
have been proud to lay his hearth and home and a share of his
wealth at the disposal of any Irish " ollamh." The love for
literature of a traditional type, in song, in poem, in saga,
was, I think, more nearly universal in Ireland than in any
country of western Europe, and her*ce that which appears to
me to be of most value in ancient Irish literature is not that
whose authorship is known, but rather the mass of traditional
matter which seems to have grown up almost spontaneously,
and slowly shaped itself into the literary possession of an entire
nation. An almost universal acquaintance with a traditional
literature was a leading trait amongst the Irish down to the
last century, when every barony and almost every townland
still possessed its poet and reciter, and song, recitation, music,
and oratory were the recognised amusements of nearly the
whole population. That population in consequence, so far as
wit and readiness of language and power of expression went,
had almost all attained a remarkably high level, without how-
ever producing any one of a commanding eminence. In col-
lecting the floating literature of the present day also, the
unknown traditional poems and the Ossianic ballads and the
stories of unknown authorship are of greater value than the
pieces of bards who are known and named. In both cases,
that of the ancient and that of the modern Irish, all that is of
most value as literature, was the property and in some sense
the product of the people at large, and it exercised upon them
a most striking and potent influence. And this influence may
be traced amongst the Irish-speaking population even at the
present day, who have, I may almost say, one and all, a re-
markable command of language and a large store of traditional
literature learned by heart, which strongly differentiates them
from the Anglicised products of the " National Schools " to
the bulk of whom poetry is an unknown term, and amongst
PREFACE xi
whom there exists little or no trace of traditional Irish feelings,
or indeed seldom of any feelings save those prompted by (when
they read it) a weekly newspaper.
The exact extent of the Irish literature still remaining in
manuscript has never been adequately determined. M. d'Arbois
de Jubainville has noted 133 still existing manuscripts, all
copied before the year 1600, and the whole number which he
has found existing chiefly in public libraries on the Continent
and in the British Isles amounts to 1,009. But man y others
have since been discovered, and great numbers must be
scattered throughout the country in private libraries, and
numbers more are perishing or have recently perished of
neglect since the " National Schools " were established.
Jubainville quotes a German as estimating that the literature
produced by the Irish before the seventeenth century, and
still existing, would fill a thousand octavo volumes. It is hard
to say, however, how much of this could be called literature in
a true sense of the word, since law, medicine, and science were
probably included in the calculation. O'Curry, O'Longan,
and O'Beirne Crowe catalogued something more than half the
manuscripts in the Royal Irish Academy, and the catalogue of
contents filled thirteen volumes containing 3,448 pages. To
these an alphabetic index of the pieces contained was made in
three volumes, and an index of the principal names, etc., in
thirteen volumes more. From a rough calculation, based on
an examination of these, I should place the number of different
pieces catalogued by them at about ten thousand, ranging from
single quatrains or even single sentences to long poems and
epic sagas. But in the Academy alone, there are nearly as
many more manuscripts which still remain uncatalogued.
It is probably owing to the extreme difficulty of arriving at
any certain conclusions as to the real extent of Irish literature
that no attempt at a consecutive history of it has ever pre-
viously been made. Despite this difficulty, there is no doubt
that such a work would long ago have been attempted had it
xii PREFACE
not been for the complete breakdown and destruction of Irish
Ireland which followed the Great Famine, and the unexpected
turn given to Anglo-Irish literature by the efforts of the
Young Ireland School to compete with the English in their
own style, their own language, and their own models.
For the many sins of omission and commission in this
volume I must claim the reader's kind indulgence ; nobody can
be better aware of its shortcomings than I myself, and the only
excuse that I can plead is that over so much of the ground I have
had to be my own pioneer. I confidently hope, however, that
in the renewed interest now being taken in our native civi-
lisation and native literature some scholar far more fully
equipped for his task than I, may soon render this volume
superfluous by an ampler, juster, and more artistic treatment
of what is really a subject of great national importance.
National or important, however, it does not appear to be
considered in these islands, where outside of the University of
Oxford — which has given noble assistance to the cause of Celtic !
studies — sympathisers are both few and far between. Indeed,
I fancy that anybody who has applied himself to the subject of
Celtic literature would have a good deal to tell about the
condescending contempt with which his studies have been
regarded by his fellows. " I shall not easily forget," said Dr
Petrie, addressing a meeting of the Royal Irish Academy upon
that celebrated example of early Celtic workmanship the Tara I
Brooch, "that when in reference to the existence of a similar
remain of ancient Irish art, I had first the honour to address
myself to a meeting of this high institution, I had to encounter
the incredulous astonishment of the illustrious Dr. Brinkley"
[of Trinity College, President of the Academy] " which was
implied in the following remark, i Surely, sir, you do not mean i
to tell us that there exists the slightest evidence to prove that
the Irish had any acquaintance with the arts of civilised life
anterior to the arrival in Ireland of the English ?' nor shall I I
PREFACE xiii
forget that in the scepticism which this remark implied nearly
all the members present very obviously participated." Exactly
the same feeling which Dr. Petrie encountered was prevalent
in my own alma mater in the eighties, where one of our most
justly popular lecturers said — in gross ignorance but perfect
good faith — that the sooner the Irish recognised that before the
arrival of Cromwell they were utter savages, the better it would
be for everybody concerned ! Indeed, it was only the other
day that one of our ablest and best known professors protested
publicly in the Contemporary Review against the enormity of
an Irish bishop signing so moderate, and I am sure so reason-
able a document, as a petition asking to have Irish children
who knew no English, taught through the medium of the
language which they spoke. Last year, too, another most
learned professor of Dublin University went out of his way to
declare that a the mass of material preserved [in the Irish
manuscripts] is out of all proportion to its value as 'literature,"
and to insist that " in the enormous mass of Irish MSS. pre-
served, there is absolutely nothing that in the faintest degree
rivals the splendours of the vernacular literatures of the Middle
Ages," that " their value as literature is but small," and that
"for educational purposes save in this limited sense [of linguistic
study] they are wholly unsuited," winding up with the extra-
ordinary assertion that " there is no solid ground for supposing
that the tales current at the time of our earliest MSS. were
much more numerous than the tales of which fragments have
come down to us." As to the civilisation of the early Irish
upon which Petrie insisted, there is no longer room for the
very shadow of a doubt ; but whether the literature which they
produced is so utterly valueless as this, and so utterly devoid of
all interest as " literature," the reader of this volume must
judge for himself. I should be glad also if he were to institute
a comparison between " the splendours of the vernacular
literatures " of Germany, England, Spain, and even Italy and
France, prior to the year iooo, and that of the Irish, for I am
xiv PRE FA CE
very much mistaken if in their early development of rhyme,
alone, in their masterly treatment of sound, and in their
absolutely unique and marvellous system of verse-forms, the
Irish will not be found to have created for themselves a place
alone and apart in the history of European literatures. |/
I hardly know a sharper contrast in the history of human
thought than the true traditional literary instinct which four
years ago prompted fifty thousand poor hard-working Irishmen
in the United States to contribute each a dollar towards the
foundation of a Celtic chair in the Catholic University of
Washington in the land of their adoption, choosing out a fit
man and sending him to study under the great Celticists of
Germany, in the hope that his scholarship might one day
reflect credit upon the far-off country of their birth ; while in
that very country, by far the richest college in the British Isles,
one of the wealthiest universities in the world, allows its so-
called " Irish professorship " to be an adjunct of its Divinity
School, founded and paid by a society for — the conversion of
Irish Roman Catholics through the medium of their own
language !
This is the more to be regretted because had the unique
manuscript treasures now shut up in cases in the underground
room of Trinity College Library, been deposited in any other
seat of learning in Europe, in Paris, Rome, Vienna, or Berlin,
there would long ago have been trained up scholars to read
them, a catalogue of them would have been published, and
funds would have been found to edit them. At present the
Celticists of Europe are placed under the great disadvantage of
having to come over to Dublin University to do the work that
it is not doing for itself.
It is fortunate however that the spread of education within
the last few years (due perhaps partly to the establishment
of the Royal University, partly to the effects of Intermediate
Education, and partly to the numerous literary societies which
working upon more or less national lines have spontaneously
PREFACE xv
sprung up amongst the Irish people themselves) has, by taking
the prestige of literary monopoly out of the hands of Dublin
University, to a great extent undone the damage which had
so long been caused to native scholarship by its attitude.
It was the more necessary to do this, because the very fact
that it had never taken the trouble to publish even a printed
catalogue of its Irish manuscripts — as the British Museum
authorities have done — was by many people interpreted, I
believe, as a sort of declaration of their worthlessness.
In dealing with Irish proper names I have experienced the
same difficulty as every one else who undertakes to treat of
Irish history. Some native names, especially those with
" mortified " or aspirated letters, look so unpronounceable as to
prove highly disconcerting to an English reader. The system
I have followed is to leave the Irish orthography untouched,
but in cases where the true pronunciation differed appreciably
from the sound which an English reader would give the letters,
I have added a phonetic rendering of the Irish form in
brackets, as " Muighmheadhon [Mwee-va-on], Lughaidh
[Lewy]." There are a few names such as Ossian, Meve,
Donough, Murrough and others, which have been almost
adopted into English, and these forms I have generally retained
— perhaps wrongly — but my desire has been to throw no unne-
cessary impediments in the way of an English reader ; I have
always given the true Irish form at least once. Where the
word cc mac " is not part of a proper name, but really means
"son of" as in Finn mac Cumhail, I have printed it with
a small "m"; and in such names as " Cormac mac Art"
I have usually not inflected the last word, but have written
" Art " not " Airt," so as to avoid as far as possible confusing
the English reader.
I very much regret that I have found it impossible, owing
to the brief space of time between printing and publication,
to submit the following chapters to any of my friends for
xvi PREFACE
their advice and criticism. I beg, however, to here express
my best thanks to my friend Father Edmund Hogan, S.J.,
for the numerous memoranda which he was kind enough to
give me towards the last chapter of this book, that on the
history of Irish as a spoken language, and also to express my
regret that the valuable critical edition of the Book of Hymns
by Dr. Atkinson and Dr. Bernard, M. Bertrand's " Religion
Gauloise," and Miss Hull's interesting volume on " Cuchullin
Saga," which should be read in connection with my chapters
on the Red Branch cycle, appeared too late for me to make
use of.
Rath-Treagh, oidhche Samhna
mdcccxcix.
CONTENTS
CHAP.
I.
- II.
III.
IV.
V.
VI.
VII.
I VIII.
I IX.
1 X.
• XI.
XII.
XIII.
XIV.
XV.
XVI.
XVII.
XVIII.
Who Were the Celts ?
Earliest Allusions to Ireland from Foreign
Sources .....
Early History Drawn frOiM Native Sources
How Far Can Native Sources be Relied on ?
The Pre-Milesian Fable and Early Pantheon
Evidence of Topography and Genealogy
Documentary Evidence
Confusion Between Gods and Men
Druidism .....
The Irish Elysium and Belief in Rebirth
Early Use of Letters, Ogam and Roman
Early Irish Civilisation
St. Patrick and the Early Missionaries
St. Brigit .....
columcille .....
The First Schools of Christian Ireland
Their Fame and Teaching .
Conflicts with the Civil Power .
PAC.H
I
17
25
38
44
56
70
77
82
94
122
TOO
166
192
21*
XV111
CONTENTS
CHAP.
XIX. The Bardic Schools
^ XX. The Suggestively Pagan Element in Irish
Literature
XXI. The Oldest Books and Poems .
XXII. Early Saga and Romance
XXIII. The Mythological Cycle
XXIV. The Heroic or Red Branch Cycle — Cuchu
LAIN ....
XXV. Deirdre . . .
XXVI. The Tain Bo Chuailgne .
XXVII. The Death of Cuchulain
XXVIII. Other Sagas of the Red Branch
XXIX. The Fenian Cycle
XXX. Miscellaneous Romance .
XXXI. Pre-Danish Poets .
XXXII. The Danish Period
XXXIII. From Clontarf to the Norman Conquest
\ XXXIV. Sudden Arrest of Irish Development
r
XXXV. Four Centuries of Decay
K~ XXXVI. Development of Irish Poetry .
XXXVII. The Ossianic Poems
XXXVIII. The Last of the Classic Poets
X XXXIX. Rise of a New School .
\ rr _- XL. Prose Writers of the Seventeenth Century
XLI. The Irish Annals.
XLII. The Brehon Laws
""■" — I XLIII. The Eighteenth Century
XLIV. The History of Irish as a Spoken Language
Index ......
Literary History of Ireland
CHAPTER I
WHO WERE THE CELTS ?
Who were those Celts, of whose race the Irish are to-day
perhaps the most striking representatives, and upon whose past
the ancient literature of Ireland can best throw light ?
Like the Greeks, like the Romans, like the English, this
great people, which once ruled over a fourth of Europe, sprang
from a small beginning and from narrow confines. The
earliest home of the race from which they spread their conquer-
ing arms may be said, roughly speaking, to have lain along
both banks of the upper Danube, and in that portion of
Europe comprised to-day in the kingdoms of Bavaria and
Wiirtemberg and the Grand Duchy of Baden, with the
country drained by the river Maine to the east of the Rhine
basin. In other words, the Celtic race and the Celtic language
sprang from the heart of what is to-day modern Germany, and
issuing thence established for over two centuries a vast empire
held together by the ties of political unity and a common
language over all North-west and Central Europe.
The vast extent of the territory conquered and colonised by
the Celts, and the unity of their speech, may be conjectured
from an examination of the place-names of Celtic origin which
a i
2 LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
either still exist or figure as having existed in Europeai
history. 1
The Celts seem to have been first known to Greek — that is,
to European history — under the semi-mythological name ol
the Hyperboreans, 2 an appellation which remained in force
from the sixth to the fourth century before Christ. Th<
name Celt or Kelt 3 first makes its appearance towards the ye;
500 B.C., in the geography of Hecataeus of Miletum, and
thereafter used successively by Herodotus, Xenophon, Plato,
and Aristotle, and from that time forward it seems to have
been employed by the Greek scholars and historians as a
generic term whereby to designate the Celts of the Continent.
Soon afterwards the word Galatian came also into use,4 and
was used as a synonym for Celt. In the first century B.C.,
however, the discovery was made that the Germans and the
Celts, who had been hitherto confounded in the popular esti-
mation, were really two different peoples, a fact which Julius
Caesar was almost the first to point out. Diodorus Siculus,
1 Take, for instance, the Celtic word duno-n, Latinised dunum, which is
the Irish dun " castle " or " fortress," so common in Irish topography, as in
Dunmore, Dunsink, Shandun, &c. There are over a dozen instances of
this word in France, nearly as many in Great Britain, more than half a
dozen in Spain, eight or nine in Germany, three in Austria, a couple in
the Balkan States, three more in Switzerland, one at least (Lug-dun, now
Leyden) in the Low Countries, one in Portugal, one in Piedmont, one in
South Russia.
Celtic was once spoken from Ireland to the Black Sea, although the
population who can now speak Celtic dialects is not more than three or four
millions. As for Celtic archaeological remains " on les trouve tant dans
nos musees nationaux (en particulier au Musee de Saint Germain) que dans
les collections publiques de la Hongrie, de l'Autriche, de la Hesse, de la
Boheme, du Wurtemburg, du pays de Bade, de la Suisse, de lTtalie
(Bertrand and Reinach, p. 3).
2 T7rep€opeiog.
3 KeXrog . The Greeks, the Latins, and the Celts themselves pronounced
Kelt, as do the modern Germans. It is against the genius of the French
language to pronounce the c hard, but not against that of the English, who
consequently had better say Kelt.
4 TakaTTjg.
WHO WERE THE CELTS? 3
accordingly, struck by this discovery, translates Caesar's Gallus
or Gaul by the word Celt, and his Germanus or German by
the word Galatian, while the other Greek historian, Dion Cassius,
does the exact opposite, calling the Celts " Galatians," and the
Germans "Celts " ! The examples thus set, however, were the
result of ignorance and were never followed. Plutarch treats
the two words as identical, as do Strabo, Pausanias and all
other Greek writers.
The word Celt itself is probably of very ancient origin, and
was, no doubt, in use 800 or 1,000 years before Christ. 1 It
cannot, however, be proved that it is a generic Celtic name for
the Celtic race, and none of the present Celtic-speaking races
have preserved it in their dialects. Jubainville derives it, very
doubtfully I should think, from a Celtic root found in the old
Irish verb "ar-CHELL-aim" ("I plunder") and the old substantive
to-CHELL ("victory") ; while he derives Galatian from a Celtic
substantive now represented by the Irish gal 2 ("bravery").
This latter word " Galatian " is one which the German peoples
never adopted, and it appears to have only come into use sub-
sequently to their revolt against their Celtic masters. After the
break-up of the Celtic Empire it was employed to designate the
eastern portion of the race, while the inhabitants of Gaul were
called Celtae and those of Spain Celtici or Celtiberi, but the
Greeks called all indifferently by the common name of Galatians.
The Romans termed the Celts Galli, or Gauls, but they
used the geographical term Gallia, or Gaul, in a restricted
sense, first for the country inhabited by the Celts in North
1 As is proved, according to Jubainville, by its having made its way
into German before the so-called Laut-verschiebung took place, to the
laws of which it submitted, for out of Celtis, the feminine form of it, they
have made Childis, as in the Frank-Merovingian Bruni-Childis or
Brunhild, and the old Scandinavian Hildr, the war-goddess.
2 This was actually a living word as recently as ten years ago. I knew
an old man who often used it in the sense of "spirit," " fire," "energy " :
he used to say cuir gal aim, meaning do it bravely, energetically. This
was in the county Roscommon. I cannot say that I have heard the word
elsewhere.
4 LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
Italy upon their own side of the Alps, and after that for the
Celtic territory conquered by Rome upon the other side of the
Alps.
The Germans appear to have called the Celts Wolah, a
name derived from the Celtic tribe the Volcae, who were so
long their neighbours, out of which appellation came the
Anglo-Saxon Wealh and the modern English , insomuch that in
an ancient alphabetical vocabulary I have by me, that letter is
omitted." 2 Even with the introduction ot Christianity and
1 Thus the Greek vTrep, Latin s-uper, German iiber is ver in ancient Celtic
{for in Old Irish, ar in the modern language), platanus becomes litano-s
(Jrish leathan), napa becomes are, and so on.
2 Lhuyd's " Comparative Etymology," title i. p. 21. Out of over 700 pages
in O'Reilly's Irish dictionary only twelve are occupied with the letter^.
WHO WERE THE CELTS? 5
the knowledge of Latin the ancient Irish persisted in their
repugnance to this letter, and made of the Latin Tasch-a
(Easter) the word Casg^ and of the Latin purpur-a the Irish
cur cur.
But meantime the Continental Celts had either — as Jubain-
ville seems to think — recovered their faculty for pronouncing
p, or else — as Rhys believes — been overrun by other semi-Celts
who, owing to some strong non-Aryan intermixture, found q
repugnant to them, and changed it into p. This appears to have
taken place prior to the year 500 B.C., for it was at about this
time that they, having established themselves round the Seine
and Loire and north of the Garonne, overran Spain, carrying
everywhere with them this comparatively newly adopted p^
as we can see by their tribal and place-names. They appeared
in Italy sometime about 400 B.C., 1 founded their colony in
Galatia about 279 B.C., and afterwards sent another swarm into
Great Britain, and to all these places they bore with them this
obtrusive letter in place of the primitive ^, the Irish alone
resisting it, for the Irish represented a first off-shoot from the
cradle of the race, an off-shoot which had left it at a time
when q represented />, and not p q. Hence it is that Welsh is
so full of the p sound which the primitive Irish would never
adopt, as a glance at some of the commonest words in both
languages will show.
English : Son tree head person worm feather everyone.
Welsh : Map prenn pen nep ^ryv pluv paup.
Irish : Mac crann cenn nech cruiv 2 cluv 2 each.
So that even the Irish St. Ciaran becomes Piaran in Wales.3
1 Probably for the second time. MM. Bertrand and Reinach seem to
have proved that the Cisalpine peoples of North Italy who were under the
dominion of the Etruscans were Celtic in manners and costume, and
probably in language also. See " Les Celtes dans les vallees du Po et du
Danube." Chapter on La Gaule Cisalpine.
2 Rather " cruimh " and " clumh," the mh being pronounced v.
3 In this matter of labialism Greek stands to some small extent with
regard to Latin, as Welsh to Irish. Nor is Latin itself exempt from it ;
compare the labialised Latin sept-em with the more primitive Irish secht.
6 LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
The Celts invaded Italy about the year 400 B.C., and
stormed Rome a few years later. They were at this time at
the height of their power. From about the year 500 to 300
B.C. they appear to have possessed a very high degree of
political unity, to have been led by a single king, 1 and to have
followed with signal success a wise and consistent external
policy. The most important events in their history during
this period were the three successful wars which they waged —
first against the Carthaginians, out of whose hands they wrested
the peninsula of Spain ; secondly in Italy against the Etruscans,
which ended in their making themselves masters of the north
of that country ; and thirdly against the Illyrians along the
Danube. All of these wars were followed by large accessions
of territory. One of the most striking features of their
external policy during this period was their close alliance with
the Greeks, whose commercial rivalry with the Phoenicians
naturally brought them into relations with the Celtic enemies
of Carthaginian power in Spain, relations from which they
reaped much advantage, since the necessity of making head
against the Celtic invaders of Spain must have seriously
crippled the Carthaginian power, at the very time when, as
ally of the Persians, she attacked the Greeks in Sicily, and lost
the battle of Himera on the same day that the Persians lost
that of Salamis. Greek writers of the fourth century speak of
the Celts as practising justice, of having nearly the same
manners and customs as the Greeks, and they notice their
hospitality to Grecian strangers. 2 Their war with the Etruscans
in North Italy completed the ruin of an hereditary enemy of
1 See Livy's account of Ambicatus, who seems to have been a kind of
Celtic Charlemagne, or more probably the equivalent of the Irish ard-righ.
Livy probably exaggerates his importance.
2 Cf. the remarkable verses quoted by d'Arbois de Jubainville of
Scymnus of Chio, following Ephorus :
" Xpuivrai St KeXrol toTq tOzcnv ' EXkrjviicolg
ixovrsQ oiKuorara irpog rr\v 'HXXdda
did rag t>7rodo%a£ tujv i7Ti%evov fLtvwv."
WHO WERE THE CELTS? 7
the Greeks, 1 and their war with the Illyrians no doubt largely
strengthened the hands of Philip, the father of Alexander the
Great, and enabled him to throw off the tribute which the
Illyrians had imposed upon Macedonia. Nor did Alexander
himself embark upon his expedition into Asia without having
first assured himself of the friendship of the Celts. He
received their ambassadors with cordiality, called them his
friends, and received from them a promise of alliance. " If we
fulfil not our engagement," said they, " may the sky falling upon
us crush us, may the earth opening swallow us up, may the sea
overflowing its borders drown us," and we may well believe
that these were the very words used by the Celtic chieftains
when we find in an Irish saga committed to writing about the
seventh century 2 the Ulster heroes swearing to their king when
he wished to leave his wing of the battle to repel the attacks
of a rival, and saying, " heaven is over us and earth is under
us and sea is round about us, and unless the firmament fall
with its star-showers upon the face of the earth, or unless
the earth be destroyed by earthquake, or unless the ridgy,
blue-bordered sea come over the expanse ( ?) of life, we shall
not give one inch of ground."
While the ambassadors were drinking the young king asked
them what was the thing they most feared, thinking, says the
historian, that they would say himself, but their answer was
quite different. " We fear no one," they said ; u there is
only one thing that we fear, which is, that the heavens may
fall upon us ; but the friendship of such a man as you we
value more than everything," whereat the king, no doubt
considerably astonished, remarked in a low voice to his
courtiers what a vainglorious people these Celts were. 3
1 By this war the newly-arrived bands drove out the Etruscan aristocracy
and took its place, ruling over a population of what were really their Celtic
kinsmen.
2 The Tain Bo Chuailgne.
3 [KeXroig] ('nreTrsfi^e, togovtov vttuttiov oti dka^oveg KeXroi elmv (Arrian,
bk. i. chap. iv,).
8 LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
All through the life of Alexander the Celts and Mace-
donians continued on good terms, and amongst the many envoys
who came to Babylon to salute the youthful conqueror of
Persia, appeared their representatives also. Some forty years
later, however, this good understanding came to an end, and
the Celts overthrew and slew in battle the Macedonian ruler
Ptolemy Keraunos about 280 B.C.
With the Romans, as with the Greeks, the relations of the
Celts were, during the fifth and fourth century B.C., upon the
whole friendly, and their hostility to the Etruscans must have
tended naturally to render them and the Romans mutual allies.
The battle of Allia, fought on the 18th of July, 390 B.C., and
the storming of Rome three days later, were a punishment
inflicted on the Romans by the Celts in their exasperation
at seeing the Roman ambassadors, contrary to the right of
nations, assisting their enemies the Etruscans under the walls
of Clusium, but these events appear to have been followed by
a long peace. 1
It is only in the third century B.C. that the hitherto
victorious and widely-colonising Celts appear to have laid
aside their internal political unity and to have lost their
hitherto victorious tactics. The Germans, over whom they
had for centuries domineered and whom they had deprived of
their independence, rise against them about 300 B.C., and
drive out their former conquerors from between the Rhine and
1 See Livy, book v. chap, xxxvi. : " Ibi, jam urgentibus Romanam urbem
fatis, legati contra jus gentium arma capiunt, nee id clam esse potuit, quum
ante signa Etruscorum tres nobilissimi fortissimi-que Romanas juventutis
pugnarent. Tantum eminebat peregrina virtus. Quin etiam Q. Fabius
erectus extra aciem equo, ducem Gallorum, ferociter in ipsa signa Etrus-
corum incursantem, per latus transfixum hasta, occidit : spolia-que ejus
legentem Galli agnovere, perque totem aciem Romanum legatum esse
signum datum est. Omissa hide in Clusinos ira, receptui canunt minantes
Romanis." It was the refusal of the Romans to give satisfaction for this
outrage that first brought the Gauls upon them.
Jubainville rejects as fabulous the self-contradicting accounts of Livy
about Roman wars with the Celts during the next forty years after the
storming of Rome.
WHO WERE THE CELTS? g
the Black Sea, from between the Elbe and the Maine. The
Celts fall out with the Romans and are beaten at Sentinum in
295 B.C. ; they ally themselves with their former enemies the
Etruscans, and are again beaten in 283 B.C. and lose territory.
They cease their alliance with the Greeks, and are guilty of
the shameful folly of pillaging the temple of Delphi, an act
of brigandage from which no good results could come, and
from which no acquisition of territory resulted. They estab-
lished a colony in Asia Minor in 278 B.C., successfully indeed,
but absolutely cut off from the rest of the Celtic Empire, and
such as in any federation of the Celtic tribes could only be a
source of weakness. Again, about the same time, we see
Celts driving out and supplanting Celts in the districts
between the Rhine, the Seine, and the Marne. In 262 B.C.
we find a body of three or four thousand Celts assisting their
former foes the Carthaginians at the siege of Agrigentum,
where they perish. Many of the Celts now took foreign
service. It was at their instigation that the war of mer-
cenaries broke out, which at one time brought Carthage to
the very verge of destruction.
Only two centuries and a half, as Jubainville remarks, had
elapsed since the Celts had conquered Spain from the Phoeni-
cians, and only a hundred and thirty years since they had
taken Rome, but their victorious political unity had already
begun to break up and crumble, and now Rome and Carthage
commenced that deadly duel in which the victor was destined
to impose his sway upon the ruins of the Celtic Empire as
well as on that of Alexander — impose it, in fact, upon all the
world then known to the Greeks, except only the extreme east.
One of the circumstances which must have helped most
materially to break up the Celtic Empire was the successful
revolt of the Germans against their former masters. The
relation of the German to the Celtic tribes is very obscure
and puzzling. The ancient Greek historians of the sixth,
fifth, and fourth centuries B.C., who tell us so much about the
io LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
Celts, know absolutely nothing of the Germans. As early as
the year 500 B.C. Hecatasus of Miletum is able to name three
peoples and two cities of India. But of the Germans, who
were so much nearer to Marseilles than the nearest point of
India is to the most eastern Greek colony, he says not a word.
Ephorus, in the fourth century, knows of only one people to
the extreme west, and they are the Celts, and their immediate
neighbours are the Scythians. He knows of no intermediate
state or nation. Where, then, were the Germans ?
The explanation lies, according to Jubainville, in this, that
even before this period the German had been conquered by
the Celt and become subordinated to him. The Greek
historians knew of no independent state bordering upon the
Scythians except the Celtic Empire alone, because none such
existed. In the fifth and fourth centuries B.C., and perhaps as
early as the seventh and sixth, the Germans had been subdued
and had lost their independence. How and when this took
place we can only conjecture, but we have philological reasons
for believing that the two races had come into mutual contact
at a very early date, probably as early as the eleventh century
B.C. The early German name for the Rhine, for instance,
Rino-Sy comes directly from the primitive Indo-European form
Reino-s and not from the Celtic Renos, which shows that the
Germans had reached that river at a time when the Celts who
lived along it still called it Reinos, not Renos. The Celts
afterwards changed the primitive ei into v 7ro, thus putting out
of the question the names of Connmach and Faoindealach.
Besides the vacant space before the ach was just sufficient to
admit of the letters Tor, but not Conn, much less Faoindea.
The conclusion was obvious : the passage ran, Ferdomnach
hunc librum e dictante Torbach herede Patricii scripsit, cc Fer-
domnach wrote this book at the dictation (or command) of
Torbach, Patrick's heir (successor)." Torbach, as we have
ST. PATRICK AND EARLY MISSIONARIES 139
seen, became Archbishop in 806 and died in 807. The date
was in this way recovered. 1
I have been thus particular in tracing the steps by which
the age of this manuscript came to light, because it contains the
earliest piece of certain Irish literature we have, the "Confession
of St. Patrick." Now the usually accepted date of St. Patrick's
death, as given in the Annals of Ulster, is 492, about three hundred
years before that, and Ferdomnach, the scribe, after copying it,
added these words : " Hue usque volumen quod patricius manu
conscripsit sua. Septimadecima martii die translatus est patricius ad
ccelos, i.e., "thus far the volume which Patrick wrote with his own
hand. On the seventeenth day of March was Patrick translated
to the heavens." It would appear highly probable from this
that Ferdomnach actually copied from St. Patrick's autograph, 2
which had become so defaced or faded during the three previous
centuries, that the scribe has written in many places incertus
liber hie, " the book is uncertain here," or else put a note 3 of
1 For the full particulars of this acute discovery, which sets the date of
the codex beyond doubt or cavil, see Dr. Graves' paper read before the
Royal Irish Academy, vol. iii. pp. 316-324, and a supplementary paper
giving other cogent reasons, vol. iii. p. 358. According to O'Donovan, the
" Four Masters " antedate here by five years. It is worth remarking that
Torbach, who caused this copy to be made, was himself a noted scribe.
His death in 807 is recorded in the " Four Masters" and in the "Annals
of Ulster," we read " Torbach, son of Gorman, scribe, lector, and Abbot of
Armagh, died."
2 There are several passages omitted in the Book of Armagh, which
are found in an ancient Brussels MS. of the eleventh century. These were
probably omitted from the Book of Armagh because they were unde-
cipherable. The Brussels MS. and others contain nearly as much again as it,
and there are many proofs that this extra matter is not of later or spurious
origin ; thus Tirechan refers to Patrick's own records, " ut in scn'plionesua
affirmai" for evidence of a fact not mentioned in the " Confession" as given
in the Book of Armagh, but which is supplied by the other MSS., namely, that
Patrick paid the price of fifteen " souls of men," or slaves, for protection
on his missionary journey across Ireland. The frequent occurrence of
deest, ct cetera, et rcliqua, show that the Armagh copy of the "Confession"
is nothing like a full one. The Brussels MS. formerly belonged to the
Irish monastery of Win /.burg.
3 See p. 36, note 2.
140 LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
interrogation to indicate that he was not sure whether he had
copied the text correctly. It will be seen from this that there
was not the slightest trace of any concealment on the part of
the scribe as to who he himself was, or what he was copying ;
there was no attempt to antedate his own writing, or to
suggest that his copy was an original. But long after the
scribe's generation had passed away and the origin of his work
been forgotten, the volume which at first had been regarded
only as a fine transcript of early documents, became known as
" Canon Phadraig," or Patrick's Testament, and popular
opinion, relying on the colophon " thus far the book which
Patrick wrote with his own hand," set down the work as the
saint's autograph. The belief that the volume was St.
Patrick's own autograph of course enhanced enormously its
value, and with it the dignity of its possessors, and the
unscrupulous plan was resolved on of erasing the signature' of
the actual scribe. The veneration of the public was thus
secured by interested persons at the cost of truth, and the
deception probably lasted so long as the possession of such
a volume brought with it either credit or dignity. This same
volume I has another interest attaching to it, so that we
cannot but felicitate ourselves that out of the wreck of so
many thousands of volumes, it has been spared to us — it was
brought to Brian Boru, when in the year 1004 he went upon
his royal progress through Ireland, the first man of the race
of Eber who had attained the proud position of monarch
or Ard-righ for many centuries, and he, by the hand or
his secretary, made an entry which may still be seen to-
day, confirming the primacy of Armagh, and re-granting to it
1 The other contents of the Book of Armagh, besides the Patrician
documents, are a copy of the New Testament, enriched with concordance
tables and illustrative matter from Jerome, Hilary, and Pelagius. It
includes the Epistle to the Laodiceans attributed to St. Paul, but it is
mentioned that Jerome denied its authenticity. There are some pieces
relating to St. Martin of Tours, and the Patrician pieces — the Life, the
Collectanea, the Book of the Angel, and the " Confession."
ST. PA TRICK AND EARL Y MISSIONARIES 141
the episcopal supremacy of Ireland which it had always
enjoyed. 1
It is now time to glance at St. Patrick's " Confession," as it
is usually called, though in reality it is much more of the
nature of an apologia pro vita sua. The evidence in favour of
its authenticity is overwhelming, and is accepted by such
cautious scholars as Stokes, 2 Todd, and Reeves, no first-rate
critic, with perhaps one exception, having so far as I know
ever ventured to question its genuineness. It is impossible to
assign any motive for a forgery, and casual references to
Decuriones, Slave-traffic, and to the " Brittaniae," or Britains,
bear testimony to its antiquity. Again, the Latin in which it
is written is barbarous in the extreme, the periods are rude,
sometimes ungrammatical, often nearly unintelligible. He
begins by telling us that his object in writing this confession
in his old age was to defend himself from the charge of
presumptuousness in undertaking the work he tried to perform
amongst the Irish. He tells us that he had many toils and
perils to surmount, and much to endure while engaged upon
it. He never received one farthing for all his preaching and
teaching. The people indeed were generous, and offered
many gifts, and cast precious things upon the altar, but he
would not receive them lest he might afford the unrighteous
an occasion to cavil. He was still encompassed about with
dangers, but he heeded them not, looking to the success which
had attended his efforts, how " the sons of the Scots and the
1 " Sanctus Patricus iens ad coelum mandavit totum fructum laboris sui
tarn baptismi tarn causarum quam elemoisinarum deferendum esse
apostolicae urbi quae scotice nominatur ardd-macha. Sic reperi in Biblio-
thics Scotorum. Ego scripsi, id est Caluus Perennis, in conspectu Briain
imperatoris Scotorum, et quod scripsi finituit pro omnibus regibus Maceriac
[i.e., Cashel]." " Calvus Perennis " is the Latin translation of Mael-suthain,
Brian's scribe and secretary. For a curious story about this Mael-suthain,
see p. 779 O'Curry's MS. Materials.
a See above p. 112, note 2. It has been printed in Haddan and Stubb's,
"Councils," etc., vol. ii. p. 296, and also admirably in Gilbert's facsimiles
of National MSS.
142 LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
daughters of their princes became monks and virgins of Christ,"
and "the number of holy widows and of continent maidens was
countless." It would be tedious were he to recount even a
portion of what he had gone through. Twelve times had his
life been endangered, but God had rescued him, and brought
him safe from all plots and ambuscades and rewarded him for
leaving his parents, and friends, and country, heeding neither
their prayers nor their tears, that he might preach the gospel
in Ireland. He appeals to all he had converted, and to all who
knew him, to say whether he had not refused all gifts — nay, it
was he himself who gave the gifts, to the kings and to their
sons, and oftentimes was he robbed and plundered of everything,
and once had he been bound in fetters of iron for fourteen days
until God had delivered him, and even still while writing this
confession he was living in poverty and misery, expecting
death or slavery, or other evil. He prays earnestly for one
thing only, that he may persevere, and not lose the people
whom God has given to him at the very extremity of the
world.
Unhappily this " Confession" is a most unsatisfying composi-
tion, for it omits to mention almost everything of most interest
relating to the saint himself and to his mission. What floods
of light might it have thrown upon a score of vexed questions,
how it might have set at rest for ever theories on druidism,
kingship, social life, his own birthplace, his mission from Rome, 1
his captors. Even of himself he tells us next to nothing,
except that his father's name was Calpornus, 2 the son of
1 It has often been said that the life of the saint in the Book of Armagh
ignores the Roman Mission. But while the life of Muirchu Maccu
Machteni does ignore it, Tirechan's his contemporary's, life, in the same
book, distinctly acknowledges it, in these words, "deinde Patricius se-
cundus ab anguelo dei, Victor nomine, et a Cclestino papa mittitur cui
Hibernia tota credidit, qui earn pene totam bap[titzavit]." (See chap. 56 of
Tirechan's life.)
2 In Irish he is usually called Son of Alprann or Alplann, the C of
Calpornus being evidently taken as belonging to the Mac, thus Mac Cal-
prainn became Mac Alprainn. In the Brussels Codex of Muirchu Maccu
ST PATRICK AND EARLY MISSIONARIES 143
Potitus, the son of Odissus, a priest, and that he dwelt in the
vicus or township of Benaven Taberniae ; he had also a small
villa not far off, where he tells us he was made captive at
the age of about sixteen years. Because his Christian training
was bad, and he was not obedient to the priests when they
admonished him to seek for salvation, therefore God punished
him, and brought him into captivity in a strange land at the
end of the world. When he was brought to Ireland he tells
us that his daily task was to feed cattle, and then the love of
God entered into his heart, and he used to rise before the sun
and pray in the woods and mountains, in the rain, the hail, and
the snow. Then there came to him one night a voice in his
sleep saying to him " Your ship is ready," and he departed and
went for two hundred miles, until he reached a port where
he knew no one. This was after six years' captivity. The
master of the ship would not take him on board, but afterwards
he relented just as Patrick was about to return to the cottage
where he had got lodging. He succeeded at last in reaching
the home of his parents in Ttritannis [/.R ) ' ( )F IRELAND
number of Irish poems 1 arc ascribed, was one of his successors
ill the seventh century, and his life seems to have taken
peculiar hold upon the imagination of the populace, for he has
more poems — many of them evident forgeries — attributed to
him than we find ascribed to any of the saints except to
Columcille ; and he has a place amongst the four great
prophets of Erin. 2 It was he who procured the remission of
1 The celebrated Evangelistarium, or Book of Moling, was, with its case
or cover, deposited in Trinity College, Dublin, in the last century by the
Kavanaghs of Bonis. Giraldus Cambrensis classes Moling as a prophet
with Merlin, and as a saint with Patrick and Columba. One of the
prophecies assigned to him is given by O' Curry, MS. Mat., p. 427. The
oldest copy of any of Moling's poems is in the monastery of St. Paul in
Carinthia, contained in a MS. originally brought from Augia Dives, or
Reichenau. It is in the most perfect metre, and runs : —
" Is en immo niada sas
Is nau tholl diant eslinn guas,
Is lestar fas, is crann crin
Nach digni toil ind rig tuas."
(" He is a bird round which a trap closes,
He is a leaky bark in weakness of peril,
He is an empty vessel, he is a withered tree
Who doth not do the will of the King above.")
/.£., " Is ean urn a n-iadhann sas / is nau (long) thollta darb' eislinn guais.
Is leastar fas (folamh) "is crann crion, [an te] nach ndeanann toil an righ
shuas."
The poem is also given in the Book of Leinster, and contains eight
verses. One would perhaps have expected the third line to run, " is crann
crin is lestar fas." The St. Paul MS., which is of the eighth century, con-
tains two of Molling's poems, and they scarcely differ in wording or
orthography from copies in MSS. six hundred years later.
2 Patrick, Columcille, and Berchan of Clonsast, are the others. Even
the English settlers had heard of their fame. Baron Finglas, writing in
Henry YIII.'s reign, says, "The four saints, St. Patrick, St. Columb, St.
Braghane [i.e., Berchan], and St. Moling, which many hundred years
agone made prophecy that Englishmen should have conquered Ireland,
and said that the said Englishmen should keep their owne laws, and as
soon as they should leave, and fall to Irish order, then they should decay,
the experience whereof is proved true." (From Ryan's " History and
Antiquities of the co. Carlow," p. 03.) A still more curious allusion to the
four Irish prophets is one in the Book of Howth, a small vellum folio of
the sixteenth century, written in thirteen different hands, published in the
Calendar of State Papers. " Men say," recounts the anonymous writer,
'that the Irishmen had four prophets in their time, Patrick, Marten [sic],
FIRST SCHOOLS OF CHRISTIAN IRELAND 211
the Boru tribute from King Finnachta about the year 693.
Glendalough was plundered and destroyed by the Danes five
times over, within a period of thirty years, yet it to some
extent recovered itself, and the great St. Laurence O'Toole,
who was Archbishop of Dublin at the coming of the Normans,
had been there educated.
Lismore, the great college of the south-east, was founded by
St. Carthach in the beginning of the seventh century, who left
behind him, according to O'Curry, a monastic rule of 580
lines of Irish verse. 1 Cathal, or Cathaldus, born in the
beginning of the seventh century, who afterwards became
bishop and patron saint of Tarentum, in Italy, was a student,
and perhaps professor in this college. The office of St. Cathal-
dus states that Gauls, Angles, Irish, and Teutons, and very
many people of neighbouring nations came to hear his lectures
at Lismore, and Morini's life of him expresses in poetic terms
the tradition of Lismore's greatness. 2 St. Cuanna, another
member of Lismore, was probably the author of the Book or
Brahen [i.e., Berchan], and Collumkill. Whosoever hath books in Irish
written every of them speak of the fight of this conquest, and saith that
long strife and oft fighting shall be for this land, and the land shall be
harried and stained with great slaughter of men, but the Englishmen fully
shall have the mastery a little before doomsday, and that land shall be
from sea to sea i-castled and fully won, but the Englishmen shall be after
that well feeble in the land and disdained ; so Barcan [Berchan] saith :
that through a king shall come out of the wild mountains of St. Patrick's,
that much people shall slew and afterwards break a castle in the wooden
of Affayle, with that the Englishmen of Ireland shall be destroyed by
that." The prophecy that the Englishmen fully shall have the mastery a
little before Doomsday is amusingly equivocal !
1 Described in O'Curry's MS. Materials, p. 375, but I do not know
where the original is.
2 Quoted in O'Halloran's " History of Ireland," bk. ix. chap. 4.
"Celcres vastissima Rheni / jam vadaTeutonici, jam deseruere Sicambri ; /
Mi ttit ab extremo gelidos Aquilone Boemos / Albis et Arvenni coeunt,
Batavi-que frequentes, / Et quicunque coluntalta sub rupe Gehennas. / . . .
Certatim hi properunt diverso tramite ad urbem / Lesmoriam [Lismore]
juvenis primos ubi transigit annos." See also corroborative proof of the
numbers of Gauls, Teutons, Swiss, and Italians visiting Lismore about the
year 700 in Usshcr's "Antiquities," Works, vi., p. 303.
2i2 LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
Cuanach, now lost, but often quoted in the Annals of
Ulster. He died in 650, and the book is not quoted after
the year 628, which makes it more than probable that he was
the author. Lismore was burnt down by the Danes, but
recovered itself in the general revival of native institutions that
took place prior to the conquest of the Anglo-Normans.
However, when these latter came upon the Irish stage it fared
ill with Lismore. Strongbow, indeed, was bought off from
burning its churches in 1 173 by a great sum of money, but in
the following year his son, in spite of this, plundered the place.
Four years later the English forces again attacked it, plundered
it, and set it on fire. In 1207 the whole town and all about it
was finally consumed, so that at the present day not a vestige
remains behind of its schools, its cloisters, or its twenty
churches.
Cork college was founded by St. Finnbarr towards the
end of the sixth century. One of its professors, Colman
O'Cluasaigh, who died in 664, wrote the curious Irish hymn
or prayer mixed with Latin, preserved in the Book of
Hymns. 1 The place was burned four times between 822 and
840, but in the twelfth century the ancient monastery which
had fallen into decay was rebuilt by Cormac Mac Carthy, king
1 Reprinted by Windisch in his " Irische Texte," Heft I., p. 5. The
first verse runs —
" Sen De don fe for don te
Mac maire ron feladar !
For a f hoessam dun anocht
Cia tiasam, cain temadar,"
which is in no wise easy to translate ! There are fifty-six verses not all in
the same metre. Another acknowledges St. Patrick as a patron saint, it
would run thus, in modernised orthography —
" Beannacht ar erlam [patriin] Padraig
Go naomhaib Eireann uime
Beannacht ar an gcathair-se
Agus ar chach bhfuil innti !
A three-quarter Latin verse runs thus —
" Regem regum rogamus/ in nostris sermonibus
Anacht Noe a luchtlach/ diluvi temporibus,"
I
FIRST SCHOOLS OF CHRISTIAN IRELAND 213
of Munster, and builder of the celebrated Cormac's Chapel
at Cashel.
The school of Ross was founded by St. Fachtna for the
Ithian tribes 1 of Corca Laidhi [Cor-ka-lee] in South-west
Munster. Ross is frequently referred to in the Annals up to
the tenth century. There is extant an interesting geo-
graphical poem in Irish, of 136 lines, written by one of the
teachers there in the tenth century, and apparently intended
as a kind of simple text to be learned by heart by the students. 2
Ross was plundered by the Danes in 840, but appears to have
been flourishing until North-west Munster was laid waste by
the Anglo-Normans under FitzStephen, after which no more is
heard of its schools or colleges.
Innisfallen was founded upon an exquisite site on the lower
lake of Killarney by St. Finan.3 The well-known " Annals
of Innisfallen," preserved in the Bodleian Library, were
probably written by Maelsuthain [Calvus Perennis] O'Carroll,
the " soul-friend " of Brian Boru, who inserted the famous
entry in the Book of Armagh.4 It is probable that Brian
himself was also educated there. This monastery, owing to
its secure retreat in the Kerry mountains, appears to have
remained unplundered by the Norsemen, and to have been
accounted "a paradise and a secure sanctuary."
Iniscaltra is a beautiful island in the south-west angle of
Loch Derg, between Galway and Clare, still famous for its
splendid round tower. It was here Columba of Terryglass,
who died in 552, established a school and monastery which
became so famous that in the life of St. Senan seven ships are
mentioned as arriving at the mouth of the Shannon crowded with
students for Iniscaltra. It was this Columba who, when asked
by one of his disciples why the birds that frequented the island
were not afraid of him, made the somewhat dramatic answer,
1 See p. 67. 2 See " Proceedings of R. I. Academy for 1884."
3 Whose 'name is preserved in O'Connell's residence, "Derrynane,"
which is really " Derry-finan " (Doire-Fhionain). 4 See p. 140 and 141 note
2 1 4 LITER. I R I ' //AS' TWv' I ' C )F IRELAND
£< Why should they fear me ? am I not a bird myself, for my
soul always flies to heaven as they fly through the sky."
Columba had a celebrated successor called Caimin, who died in
653. Ussher, who calls him St. Caminus, tells us that part of
his Psalter was extant in his own time, and that he had himself
seen it "having a collation of the Hebrew text placed on the
upper part of each page, and with brief scholia added on the
exterior margin." J
A great number of lesser monastic institutions and schools
seem to have existed alongside of these more famous ones, and
it is hardly too much to say that during the sixth, seventh,
eighth, and perhaps ninth centuries Ireland had caught and
held aloft the torch of learning in the lampadia of mankind,
and procured for herself the honourable title of the island of
saints and scholars.
1 " Habebatur psalterium, cujus unicum tantum quaternionem mihi
videre contigit, obelis et asteriscis diligentissime distinctum ; collatione
cum veritate Hebraica in superiore parte cujusque paginal posita, et
brevibus scholiis ad exteriorem marginem adjectis." (See "Works," vol.
vi. p. 544. Quoted by Professor G. Stokes, " Proceedings R. I. Academy,"
May, 1892.)
CHAPTER XVII
THEIR FAME AND TEACHING
It is very difficult to say what was exactly the curriculum of
the early Irish colleges, and how far they were patronised by
laymen. Without doubt their original design was to pro-
pagate a more perfect knowledge of the Scriptures and of
theological learning in general, but it is equally certain that
they must have, almost from the very first, taught the heathen
classics and the Irish language side by side with the Scriptures
and theology. There is no other possible way of accounting
for the admirable scholarship of the men whom they turned
out, and for their skill in Latin and often also in Irish poetry.
Virgil, Ovid, Terence, and most of the Latin poets must have
been widely taught and read. " It is sufficient," says M.
d'Arbois de Jubainville, talking of Columbanus who was born
in 543, anc ^ w h° was educated at Bangor, on Belfast Loch,
" to glance at his writings, immediately to recognise his
marvellous superiority over Gregory of Tours and the Gallo-
Romans of his time. He lived in close converse with the
classical authors, as later on did the learned men of the sixteenth
century, whose equal he certainly is not, but of whom he
seems a sort of precursor." From the sixth to the sixteenth
century is a long leap, and no higher eulogium could be passed
215
j 1 6 LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
upon the scholarship of Col um ban us and the training given by
his Irish college. 1 All the studies of the time appear to have
been taught in them through the medium of the Irish lano;uao;e.
not merely theology but arithmetic, rhetoric, poetry, hagio-
graphy, natural science as then understood, grammar, chron-
ology, astronomy, Greek, and even Hebrew.
" The classic tradition," sums up M. Darmesteter, " to all appear-
ances dead in Europe, burst out into full flower in the Isle of Saints,
and the Renaissance began in Ireland 700 years before it was known
in Italy. During three centuries Ireland was the asylum of the
higher learning which took sanctuary there from the uncultured
states of Europe. At one time Armagh, the religious capital of
Christian Ireland, was the metropolis of civilisation."
1 Here are a few lines from the well-known Adonic poem which he, at
the age of 68, addressed to his friend Fedolius —
" Extitit ingens Impia quippc
Causa malorum Pygmalionis
Aurea pellis-, Regis ob aurum
Corruit auri. Gesta leguntur.
Munerc parvo
Ccena Deorum.
Ac tribus Mis Fosmina scepe
Maxima lis est Perdit ob aurum
Orta Deabus. Casta pudorcm.
Hinc populavit Non Jovis auri
Trogugenarum Fluxit in imbre
Ditia regrta Scd quod adultet
Dorica pubes. Obtulit aurum
Juraque Icgum Aureus Me
Fasque fides que Fingitur imber."
Rumpitur aure.
Dr. Sigerson in " Bards of the Gael and Gaul," p. 407, prints as Jubain-
ville also does, the whole of this noted poem, and points out that it is shot
through and through with Irish assonance. " Not less important than its
assonance," writes Dr. Sigerson, " is the fact that it introduces into Latin
verse the use of returning words, or burthens with variations, which
supply the vital germs of the rondeau and the ballad." I am not myself
convinced of what Dr. Sigerson considers marks of intentional assonance
in almost every line.
His chief remaining works are a Monastic Rule in ten chapters ; a book
on the daily penances of the monks ; seventeen sermons ; a book on the
measure of penances ; a treatise on the eight principal vices ; five
epistles written to Gregory the Great and others ; and a good many Latin
verses. His life is written by the Abbot Jonas, a contemporary of
his own.
THEIR FAME AND TEACHING 217
" Ireland," says Babington in his " Fallacies of Race Theories," 1
" had been admitted into Christendom and to some measure of
culture only in the fifth century. At that time Gaul and Italy
enjoyed to the full all the knowledge of the age. In the next
century the old culture-lands had to turn for some little light and
teaching to that remote and lately barbarous land."
When we remember that the darkness of the Middle Ages
had already set in over the struggles, agony, and confusion of
feudal Europe, and that all knowledge of Greek may be said
to have died out upon the Continent — " had elsewhere absolutely
vanished," says M. Darmesteter — when we remember that
even such a man as Gregory the Great was completely ignorant
of it, it will appear extraordinary to find it taught in Ireland
alone, out of all the countries of Western Europe. 2 Yet this
is capable of complete and manifold proof. Columbanus for
instance, shows in his letter to Pope Boniface that he knows
something of both Greek and Hebrew. 3 Aileran, who died of
the plague in 664, gives evidence of the same in his book on
our Lord's genealogy. Cummian's letter to the Abbot of
Iona has been referred to before, and, as Professor G. Stokes puts
it, " proves the fact to demonstration that in the first half of
the seventh century there was a wide range of Greek learning,
not ecclesiastical merely, but chronological, astronomical, and
philosophical, away at Durrow in the very centre of the Bog
of Allen." Augustine, an un-identified Irish monk of the
second half of the seventh century, gives many proofs of Greek
and Oriental learning and quotes the Chronicles of Eusebius.
The later Sedulius, the versatile abbot of Kildare, about the
year 820 " makes parade of his Greek knowledge," to quote a
French writer in the " Revue Celtique," " employs Greek words
1 P. 122.
2 "Grossere oder geringere Kenntniss klassischen Alterthums, vorallcm
Kenntniss des Griechischen ist daher in jener Zeit eia Mazstab sowohl fur
die Bilclung einer einzelne© Personlichkeit als auch fur den Culturgrud eines
ganzen Zeitalters " (Zimmer, " Preussische Jahrbucher," January, 1887).
3 He plays on his* own name Columba, "a dove," and turns it into Greek
1 and Hebrew, -Kzpiaripa. and j"\y\>
218 LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
without necessity, and translates into Greek a part of the
definition of the pronoun." 1 St. Caimins's Psalter, seen by
Bishop Ussher with the Hebrew text collated, convinced Dr.
Reeves that Hebrew as well as Greek was studied in Ireland
about the year 600. Nor did this Greek learning tend to die
out. In the middle of the ninth century John Scotus
Erigena, summoned from Ireland to France by Charles the
Bald, was the only person to be found able to translate the
Greek works of the pseudo-Dionysius, 2 thanks to the training
he had received in his Irish school. The Book of Armagh
contains the Lord's Prayer written in Greek letters, and there
is a Greek MS. of the Psalter, written in Sedulius' own hand,
now preserved in Paris. Many more Greek texts, at least a
dozen, written by Irish monks, are preserved elsewhere in
Europe. " These eighth and ninth century Greek MSS.,"
remarks Professor Stokes, " covered with Irish glosses and Irish
poems and Irish notes, have engaged the attention of palaeo-
graphers and students of the Greek texts of the New Testament
during the last two centuries." They are indeed a proof
that — as Dr. Reeves puts it — the Irish School " was unques-
tionably the most advanced of its day in sacred literature."
This remarkable knowledge of Greek was evidently derived
from an early and direct commerce with Gaul, where Greek
had been spoken for four or five centuries, first alongside of
Celtic, and in later times of Latin also.3 The knowledge
1 Dr. Sigerson prints an admirably graceful poem either by this or
another Sedulius of the ninth century at p. 411 of his "Bards of the Gael
and Gaul." It shows how far from being pedants the Irish monks were.
This poem is a dispute between the rose and lily.
2 This translation which Charles sent to the Pope threw Anastasius, the
Librarian of the Roman Church, into the deepest astonishment. " Mir-
andum est," he writes in his letter of reply, dated 865, " quomodo vir ille
barbarus in finibus mundi positus, talia intellectu capere in aliamque
linguam transferre valuerit" {See Prof. Stokes, " R. I. Academy Pro-
ceedings," May, 1892).
3 St. Jerome tells us that the people of Marseilles were in his day trilin-
gual, " Massiliam Phooei condiderunt quos ait Varro trilingues esse, quod
et Graece loquantur, et Latine et Gallice " (Migne's edition, vol. vii. p. 425).
THEIR FAME AND TEACHING 219
of Hebrew may have been derived from the Egyptian monks
who passed over from Gaul into Ireland. Egypt and the East
were more or less in close communication with Gaul in the
fifth century, and the Irish Litany, ascribed to Angus the
Culdee, commemorates seven Egyptian monks amongst many
other Gauls, Germans, and Italians who resided in Ireland.
The close and constant intercommunication between Greek-
speaking Gaul and Ireland accounts for the planting and culti-
vation of the Greek language in the Irish schools, and once
planted there it continued to flourish more or less for some
centuries. There is ample evidence to prove the connection
between Gaul and Ireland from the fifth to the ninth century.
We find Gaulish merchants in the middle of Ireland at
Clonmacnois, who had no doubt sailed up the Shannon in the
way of commerce, selling wine to Ciaran in the sixth century.
We find Columbanus, a little later on, inquiring at Nantes for
a vessel engaged in the Irish trade — qua vexerat corrnnercium cum
Hiberma. In Adamnan's Life of Columcille we find
mention of Gaulish sailors arriving at Cantire. Adamnan's
own treatise on Holy Places was written from the verbal
account of a Gaul. In the Old Irish poem on the Fair
of Carman in Wexford — a pagan institution which lived on
in Christian times — we find mention of the
" Great market of the foreign Greeks,
Where gold and noble clothes were wont to be ; " z
the foreign Greeks being no doubt the Greek-speaking
Gaulish merchants. Alcuin sends his gifts of money and oil
and his letters direct from Charlemagne's court to his friends
in Clonmacnois, probably by a vessel engaged in the direct
Irish trade, for, as he himself tells us, the sea-route between
England and France was then closed. If more proof of the
1 See appendix to O'Curry's " Manners and Customs," vol. iii. p. 547 —
" Margaid mor na n-gall ngregach
I mbict or is aid etach."
220 LITERARY HISTORY OP IRELAND
close communication between Ireland and Gaul were wanted,
the fact that Dagobert II., king of France in the seventh
century, was educated at Slane, 1 in Ireland, and also that
certain Merovingian and French coins have been found
here, should be sufficient.
The fame of these early Irish schools attracted students in
the seventh, eighth, and ninth centuries from all quarters to
Ireland, which had now become a veritable hind of schools
and scholars. The Venerable Bede tells us of the crowds
of Anglo-Saxons who flocked over into Ireland during the
plague, about the year 664, and says that they were all warmly
welcomed by the Irish, who took care that they should be
provided with food every day, without payment on their part ;
that they should have books to read, and that they should
receive gratuitous instruction from Irish masters. 2 Books
must have already multiplied considerably when the swarms
of Anglo-Saxons could thus be supplied with them gratis.
This noble tradition of free education to strangers lasted down
to the establishment of the so-called " National " schools in
Ireland, for down to that time " poor scholars " were freely 1
supported by the people and helped in their studies. The num-
ber of scribes whose deaths have been considered worth
recording by the annalists is very great, and books consequently |
must have been very numerous. This plentifulness of books
probably added to the renown of the Irish schools. An English |
prince as well as a French one was educated by them in the
seventh century ; this was Aldfrid, king of Northumbria, who
1 He is said to have spent eighteen or twenty years there and to have
acquired all the wisdom of the Scots. The reason why he was sent to
Slane, as Dr. Healy well observes, was, not because it was the most cele-
brated school of the time, but because it was in Meath where the High-
kings mostly dwelt, and it was only natural to bring the boy to some place
near the Royal Court. (" Ireland's Schools and Scholars," p. 590.)
2 " Quos omnes Scotti libentissime suscipientes victum eis quotidianum
sine pretio, libros quoque ad legendum, et migisterium gratuitum, prae-
bere curabant " (" Ecc. Hist.," book iii. chap. 27). Amongst these were the
celebrated Egbert, of whom Bede tells us so much, and St. Chad.
THEIR FAME AND TEACHING 221
was trained in all the learning of Erin, and who always aided
and abetted the Irish in England, in opposition to Wilfrid, who
opposed them. That the king got a good education in Ireland
may be conjectured from the fact that Aldhelm, abbot of
Malmesbury, dedicated to him a poetic epistle on Latin
metric and prosody, in which, says Dr. Healy, " he con-
gratulates the king on his good fortune in having been edu-
cated in Ireland." Aldhelm's own master was also an Irishman,
Mael-dubh, and his abbacy of Malmesbury is only a corruption
of this Irishman's name Maeldubh's-bury. 1 In another place
Aldhelm tells us that while the great English school at Canter-
bury was by no means overcrowded, the English swarmed to
the Irish schools like bees. Aldfrid himself, when leaving
Ireland, composed a poem of sixty lines in the Irish language
and metre, which he must have learned from the bards, in
which he compliments each of the provinces severally, as
though he meant to thank the whole nation for their hos-
pitality. 2
" I found in Inisfail the fair
In Ireland, while in exile there,
Women of worth, both grave and gay men,
Learned clerics, heroic laymen.
1 He is called Mailduf by Bede, and Malmesbury Maildufi urbem, which
shows that the aspirated "b" in dubh had twelve hundred years ago the
sound of " f " as it has to-day in Connacht.
2 O'Reilly states that the poem consisted of ninety-six lines, but Hardi-
mau, in his " Irish Minstrelsy," vol. ii. p. 372, gives only sixty. Hardiman
has written on the margin of O'Reilly's " Irish Writers " in my possession,
'" I have a copy, the character is ancient and very obscure." Aldfrid may
well have written such a poem, of which the copy printed by Hardiman
may be a somewhat modernised version. It begins —
" Ro dheat an inis finn Fail
In Eirinn re imarbhaidh,
lomad ban, ni baoth an breas,
Iomad laoch, iomad cleireach."
It was admirably and fairly literally translated by Manganfor Montgomery.
His fourth line, however, runs, "Many clerics and many laymen," which
conveys no meaning save that of populousness. I have altered this line
to make it suit the Irish " many a hero, many a cleric."
223 LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
*' I travelled its fruitful provinces round,
And in every one of the live I found,
Alike in church and in palace hall,
Abundant apparel and food for all."
St. Willibrordj a Saxon noble educated in Ireland about
the same time with King Aldfrid, went out thence and
ultimately became Archbishop of Utrecht. Another noted
scholar of the same period was A gilbert, a Frank by birth,
who spent a long time in Ireland for the purpose of study and
afterwards became Bishop of Paris. 1 We have seen how the
Office of St. Cathaldus states that the school of Lismore was
visited by Gauls, Angles, Scotti, Teutons, and scholars from
other neighbouring nations. The same was more or less the
case with Clonmacnois, Bangor, and some others of the most
noted of the Irish schools.
It was not in Greek attainments, nor in ecclesiastical studies,
nor in Latin verses alone, that the Irish excelled ; they also
produced astronomers like Dungal and geographers like
Dicuil. DungaPs attainments we have glanced at, but
Dicuil's book — de mensura orbis terrarum — -written about the
year 825, is more interesting, although nothing is known about
the author's own life, nor do we know even the particular
Irish school to which he belonged. 2 His book was published
by a Frenchman because he found Dicuil's descriptions of the
measurements of the Pyramids a thousand years ago tallied
with his own.
" Antioch,'.' writes Professor G. Stokes, " about a.d. 600, was the
centre of Greek culture and Greek erudition, and the chronicle of
Malalas, as embodied in Niebuhr's series of Byzantine historians,
is a mine of information on many questions ; but compare it with
the Irish work of Dicuil and its mistakes are laughable."
1 " Natione quidem Gallus," says Bede, " sed tunc legendarum gratia
scripturarum in Hibernia non parvo tempore demoratus."
2 Probably Clonmacnois. See Stokes, " Celtie Church," p. 214, and Dr.
Healy's " Ireland's Schools and Scholars," p. 283.
THEIR FAME AND TEACHING 223
A great deal of his work is founded of course upon Pliny,
Solinus, and Priscian, but he shows a highly-developed critical
sense in comparing and collating various MSS. which he had
inspected to ensure accuracy. What he tells us at first-hand,
however, is by far the most interesting. In speaking of the
Nile he says that : —
"Although we never read in any book that any branch of the Nile
flows into the Red Sea, yet Brother Fidelis told in my presence to
my master Suibhne [Sweeny] — to whom under God I owe whatever
knowledge I possess — that certain clerics and laymen from Ireland
who went to Jerusalem on pilgrimage sailed up the Nile a long way."
They sailed thence by a canal into the Red Sea, and this state-
ment proves the accuracy of Dicuil, for this canal really existed
and continued in use until 767, when it was closed to hinder
the people of Mecca and Medina getting supplies from Egypt.
The account of the Pyramids is particularly interesting.
"The aforesaid Brother Fidelis measured one of them and
found that the square face was 400 feet in length." The
same brother wished to examine the exact point where Moses
had entered the Red Sea in order to try if he could find any
traces of the chariots of Pharaoh or the wheel tracks, but the
sailors were in a hurry and would not allow him to go on this
excursion. The breadth of the sea appeared to him at this
point to be about six miles. Dicuil describes Iceland long
before it was discovered by the Danes.
"It is now thirty years," said he, writing in 825, "since I was told
by some Irish ecclesiastics, who had dwelt in that island from the
1st of February to the 1st of August, that the sun scarcely sets
there in summer, but always leaves, even at midnight, light enough
to do one's ordinary business — vel pediciilos de camisia abstrahere" /
Those writers are greatly mistaken, he says, who describe the
Icelandic sea as always frozen, and who say that there is day
there from spring to autumn and from autumn to spring, for
the Irish monks sailed thither through the open sea in a month
224 LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
of great natural cold, and yet found alternate day and night,
except about the period of the summer solstice. He also
describes the Faroe Isles : —
"A certain trustworthy monk told me that he reached one of them
by sailing for two summer days and one night in a vessel with two
benches of rowers. ... In these islands for almost a hundred
years there dwelt hermits who sailed there from our own Ireland
[nostra Scottia], but now they are once more deserted as they were
at the beginning, on account of the ravages of the Norman pirates."
This is proof positive that the Irish discovered and inhabited
Iceland and the Faroe Islands half a century or a century
before the Northmen. Dicuil was distinguished as a gram-
marian, metrician, and astronomer, 1 but his geographical treatise,
written in his old age, is the most interesting and valuable of
his achievements.
Fergil, or Virgilius, as he is usually called, was another great
Irish geometer, who eventually became Archbishop of Salzburg
and died in 785. He taught the sphericity of the earth and
the doctrine of the Antipodes, a truth which seems also to have
been familiar to Dicuil. St. Boniface, afterwards Archbishop
of Mentz, evidently distorting his doctrine, accused him to the
Pope of heresy in teaching that there was another world and
other men under the earth, and another sun and moon.
" Concerning this charge of false doctrine, if it shall be
established," said the Pope, " that Virgil taught this per-
verse and wicked doctrine against God and his own soul,
do you then convoke a council, degrade him from the priest-
hood, and drive him from the Church." Virgil, however,
seems to have satisfactorily explained his position, for nothing
was done against him.
These instances help to throw some light upon a most
difficult subject — the training given in the early Irish Christian
schools, and the cause of their undoubted popularity for three
centuries and more amongst the scholars of Western Europe.
1 His astronomical work, written in 814-16, remains as yet unpublished.
CHAPTER XVIII
CONFLICTS WITH THE CIVIL POWER
The extraordinary and abnormal receptivity of the Irish of
the fifth century, and the still more wonderful and unprece-
dented activity of their descendants in the sixth and following
ones had almost bid fair to turn the nation into a land of
apostles. This outburst of religious zeal, glorious and en-
during as it was, carried with it, like all sudden and powerful
movements, an element of danger. It was unfortunately
destined in its headlong course to overflow its legitimate
barriers and to come into rude contact with the civil power
which had been established upon lines more ancient and not
wholly sympathetic.
A striking passage in one of Renan's books dwells upon the
obvious religious inferiority of the Greeks and Romans to the
Jews, while it notes at the same time their immense political
and intellectual superiority over the Semitic nation. The
inferiority of the Jew in matters political and intellectual the
French writer seems inclined to attribute to his abnormally
developed religious sense, which, absorbed in itself, took all too
little heed of the civic side of life and of the necessities of the
state. Nor can it, I think, be denied that primitive Chris-
tianity in some cases took over from the Hebrews a certain
P 225
226 LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
amount of this spirit of self-absorption and of disregard for the
civil side of life and social polity. "Ouand on prend les choses
humaines par ce cote," remarks Renan, "on fonde de grands
proselytisme^ universels, on a des apotres courant le monde
d'un bout a l'autre, et le convertissant ; mais on ne fonde pas
des institutions politiques, une independance nationale, une
dynastic, un code, un peuple."
We have already seen how the exaggerated pretensions of
St. Columcille had come almost at once into opposition with
the established law of the land, the law which enjoined death
as the penalty for homicide at Tara, and how the priest
unjustifiably took upon himself to override the civil magistrate
in the person of the king*.
Of precisely such a nature — only with far worse and far
more enduring consequences — was the cursing of Tara by St.
Ruadhan of Lothra. The great palace where, according to
general belief, a hundred and thirty-six pagan and six Christian
kings had ruled uninterruptedly, the most august spot in all
Ireland, where a " truce of God " had always reigned during
the great triennial assemblies, was now to be given up and
deserted at the curse of a tonsured monk. The great
Assembly or Feis of Tara, which accustomed the people to
the idea of a centre of government and a ruling power,
could no more be convened, and a thousand associations and
memories which hallowed the office of the High-king were
snapped in a moment. It was a blow from which the
monarchy of Ireland never recovered, a blow which, by
putting an end to the great triennial or septennial conven-
tions of the whole Irish race, weakened the prestige of the
central ruler, increased the power of the provincial chieftains,
segregated the clans of Ireland from one another, and opened
a new road for faction and dissension throughout the entire
island.
There is a considerable amount of mystery attached to this
whole transaction, and all the great Irish annalists, the " Four
CONFLICTS WITH THE CIVIL POWER 227
Masters," the " Chronicon Scotorum," the Annals of Ulster,
Tighearnach, and Keating, are absolutely silent upon the
matter. 1 The "Four Masters," indeed, under the year 554
record " the last Feis of Tara," 2 as does Tighearnach also ;
but why it was the last, or why Tara was deserted, they do
not say. Yet so great a national event was infinitely too
important to have been passed over in silence except for some
special reason, and I cannot help thinking that it was not
alluded to because the annalists did not care to recall it. The
authorities for the cursing of Tara are the lost " Annals of
Clonmacnois," which were translated into English by Connell
Mac Geoghegan in 1627, and which give a very long and
full account of the matter ; 3 an Irish MS. in Trinity College,
Dublin ; 4 the Life of St. Ruadhan himself, in the fourteenth
century (?) codex the Book of Kilkenny, now in Marsh's
Library ; and his life as published by the Bollandists ; the
ancient scholiast on Fiach's hymn on the Life of St.
Patrick ; a fifteenth century vellum in the British Museum,
which professes to copy from the lost Book of Sligo ; the
Book of Rights,5 and the Book of Lismore, which last,
though it turns the story into an ursgeul, or romance, yet
agrees closely in essentials with the lost " Annals of Clon-
macnois." The story, as told in this manuscript, is worth
producing as a specimen of how the Irish loved to turn every
great historical event into an ursgeul, seasoned with a good
spice of the marvellous, and dressed up dramatically. How
much of such pseudo-histories is true, how much invented for
the occasion, and how much may be stock-in-trade of the
1 The silence of Keating seems to me particularly strange, for he devotes
a good deal of space to King Diarmuid's reign, yet he must have been
perfectly well aware of the stories then current and the many allusions in
vellum MSS. to the cursing of Tara.
2 " Feis dedheanach Teamhra do deanamh la Diarmailt righ Kiv.iun."
Tighearnach calls it " Cena postrema."
3 Printed for the Royal Society of Antiquaries by the late Denis Murphy,
S.J., Dublin, 1896. See p. 85. « H., I. 15. 5 Pp. 53-57-
228 LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
story-teller, is never easily determined. The story runs as
follows : —
King Diarmuid's steward and spear-bearer had been ill and
wasting away for a year. On his recovery he goes to the
King, and asks him whether "the order of his discipline and
peace " had been observed during the time of his illness. The
King answered that he had noticed no breach or diminution
of it. The spear-bearer said he would make sure of the
King's peace by travelling round Ireland with his spear held
transversely, and he would see whether the door of every liss
and fortress would be opened wide enough to let the spear
pass — such on the approach of the King's spear seems to have
been the law — and " so shall the regimen and peace of
Ireland," said he " be ascertained."
" From Tara, therefore, goes forth the spear-bearer, 1 and with
him the King of Ireland's herald, to proclaim Ireland's peace, and
lie arrived in the province of Connacht, and made his way to the
mansion of Aedh [^E] Guaire of Kinelfechin. And he at that time
had round his rath a stockade of red oak, and had a new house too,
that was but just built [no doubt inside the rath] with a view to his
marriage feast. Now, a week before the spear-bearer's arrival the
other had heard that he was on his way to him, and had given orders
to make an opening before him in the palisade [but not in the
dwelling] .
" The spear-bearer came accordingly, and Aedh Guaire bade him
welcome. The spear-bearer said that the house must be hewn
[open to the right width] before him.
" ' Give thine own orders as to how it may please thee to have it
hewn,' said Aedh Guaire, but, even as he spake it, he gave a stroke
of his sword to the spear-bearer, so that he took his head from off
him.
" Now at this time the discipline of Ireland was such that who-
soever killed a man void of offence, neither cattle nor other valu-
able consideration might be taken in lieu of the slain, but the slayer
must be killed, unless it were that the King should order or permit
the acceptance of a cattle-price.
1 He is called Aedh Baclamh here, " Bacc Lonim " in the " Life." Bac-
lamh apparently indicates some office. I have here called him only the
spear-oearer.
CONFLICTS WITH THE CIVIL POWER 229
" When King Diarmuid heard of the killing he sent his young men
and his executive to waste and to spoil Aedh Guaire. And he flees to
Bishop Senan, for one mother they had both, and Senan the bishop
goes with him to Ruadhan of Lothra, for it was two sisters of
Lothra that nursed Bishop Senan, Cael and Ruadhnait were their
names. But Aedh Guaire found no protection with Ruadhan, but
was banished away into Britain for a year, and Diarmuid's people
came to seek for him in Britain, so he was again sent back to
Ruadhan. And Diarmuid himself comes to Ruadhan to look for
him, but he had been put into a hole in the ground by Ruadhan,
which is to-day called ' Ruadhan's Hole.' Diarmuid sent his man
to look in Ruadhan's kitchen whether Aedh Guiare were there. But
on the man's going into the kitchen his eyes were at once struck
blind. When Diarmuid saw this, he went into the kitchen himself,
but he did not find Aedh Guiare there. And he asked Ruadhan
where he was, for he was sure he would tell him no lie.
" ' I know not where he is,' said Ruadhan, ' if he be not under
yon thatch.'
"After that Diarmuid departs to his house, but he remembered
the cleric's word and returns to the recluse's cell, and he sees the
candle being brought to the spot where Aedh Guaire was. And he
sends a confidential servant to bring him forth — Donnan Donn was
his name — and he dug down in the hiding place, but the arm he
stretched out to take Aedh withered to the shoulder. And he
makes obeisance to Ruadhan after that, and the two servants
remained w y ith Ruadhan after that in Poll Ruadhain. After this
Diarmuid [himself] carries off Aedh Guaire to Tara."
Upon this, we are told, Ruadhan made his way to Brendan
of Birr, and thence to the so-called twelve apostles of Ireland, 1
and they all followed the King and came to Tara, and they
fast upon the King that night, and he, " relying on his kingly
quality and on the justice of his cause, fasts upon them." 2
" In such fashion, and to the end of a year they continued before
Tara under Ruadhan's tent exposed to weather and to wet, and the}'
were every other night without food, Diarmuid and the clergy, fast-
ing on each other."
After this the story goes on that Brendan the Navigator had
in the meantime landed from his foreign expeditions, and
1 See above, p. [96.
? "A niurt a fhlatha*ocus a fhirinne,"
230 LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
hearing that the other saints of Ireland were fasting: before
Tara, he also proceeds thither. But King Diarmuid, learning
of his coming, was terrified, and consented to give up Aedh
Guaire for "fifty horses, blue-eyed with golden bridles."
Brendan the Voyager, fresh from his triumphs on the ocean,
summons fifty seals and makes them look like horses, and
guaranteeing them for a year and a quarter, hands them over
to the King and receives Aedh Guaire. But when the time
guaranteed was out, they became seals again, and brought their
riders with them into the sea. And Diarmuid was very wroth
at the deception, " and shut the seven lisses of Tara to the end
that the clergy should not enter into Tara, lest they should
leave behind malevolence and evil bequests."
It appears that the clerics still continued fasting upon the
King, and he fasting upon them,
" And people were assigned [by the King] to wait upon them and
to keep watch and ward over them until the clergy should have accom-
plished the act of eating and consuming food in their presence. But
on this night Brendan gave them this advice — their cowls to be about
their heads and they to let their meat and ale pass by their mouths
into their bosoms and down to the ground, and this they did. Word
was brought to the King that the clergy were consuming meat and
ale, so Diarmuid ate meat that night, but the clerics on the other
hand fasted on him through stratagem.
" Now Diarmuid's wife — Mughain was his wife — saw a dream, which
dream was this, that upon the green of Tara was a vast and wide-
foliaged tree, and eleven slaves hewing at it, but every chip which
they knocked from it would return into its place again and adhere to
it [as before], till at last there came one man that dealt the tree but a
stroke, and with that single cut laid it low, as the poet spoke the lay —
" ' An evil dream did she behold
The wife of the King of Tara of the heavy torques,
Although it brought to her grief and woe
She could not keep from telling it.
A powerful stout tree did she behold,
That might shelter the birds of Ireland,
Upon the hill-side, smitten with axes,
And champions hewing together at it, etc.
(48 lines more.)
CONFLICTS WITH THE CIVIL POWER 231
As for Diarmuid, son of Cerbhall [the King] , after that dream he
arose early, so that he heard the clergy chant their psalms, and he
entered into the house in which they were.
" ' Alas ! ' he said, ' for the iniquitous contest which ye have waged
against me, seeing that it is Ireland's good that I pursue, and to pre-
serve her discipline and royal right, but 'tis Ireland's unpeace and
murderousness which ye endeavour after. For God Himself it is
who on such or such a one confers the orders of prince, of righteous
ruler, and of equitable judgment, to the end that he may maintain
his truthfulness, his princely quality, and his governance. Now that
to which a king is bound is to have mercy coupled with stringency
of law, and peace maintained in the sub-districts, and hostages in
fetters ; to succour the wretched, but to overwhelm enemies, and to
banish falsehood, for unless on this hither side one do the King of
Heaven's will, no excuse is accepted by him on the other. And thou,
Ruadhan,' said Diarmuid, 'through thee it is that injury and rending
of my mercy and of mine integrity to Godward is come about, and
I pray God that thy diocese be the first in Ireland that shall be
renounced, and thy Church lands the first that shall be impugned.'
" But Ruadhan said, ' Rather may thy dynasty come to nought, and
none that is son or grandson to thee establish himself in Tara for
ever ! '
" Diarmuid said, ' Be thy Church desolate continually.'
" Ruadhan said, ' Desolate be Tara for ever and for ever.
" Diarmuid said, ' May a limb of thy limbs be wanting to thee, and
come not with thee under ground, and mayest thou lack an eye !'
"' Have thou before death an evil countenance in sight of all ; may
thine enemies prevail over thee mightily, and the thigh that thou
liftedst not before me to stand up, be the same mangled into pieces.'
" Said Diarmuid, ' The thing [i.e., the man] about which is our
dispute, take him with you, but in thy church, Ruadhan, may the
alarm cry sound at nones always, and even though all Ireland be
at peace be thy church's precinct a scene of war continuously.'
" And from that time to this the same is fulfilled." 1
There follows a poem of 88 lines uttered by the King.
The same story in all its essential details is told in the MS.
1 There is a poem ascribed to Ruadhan in (he MS. marked H. 4. in
Trinity College. O'Clery's Feilire na Naomh has a curious note on
Ruadhan which runs thus : Ruadhan of Lothra, "he was of the race of
Owen Mor, son of Oilioll Olum. A very old ancient book (sein leabhar fo
aosta) as we have mentioned at Brigit, istof February, states that Ruadhan
of Lothra was in manners and life like Matthew the Apostle."
232 LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
Egerton 1782, a vellum of the fifteenth century, which pro-
fesses to follow the lost Book of Sligo. It is quite as unbiassed
and outspoken about the result of the clerics' action as the
Book of Lismore. It makes Diarmuid address the clerics thus —
" ' Evil is that which ye have worked O clerics, my kingdom's ruina-
tion. For in the latter times Ireland shall not be better off than she
is at this present. But, however it fall out,' said he, ' may bad
chiefs, their heirs-apparent, and their men of war, quarter them-
selves in your churches, and may it be their [read your ?] own selves
that in your houses shall pull off such peoples' brogues for them, ye
being the while powerless to rid yourselves of them.' "
This codex sympathises so strongly with the king that it
states that one of Ruadhan's eyes burst in his head when the king
cursed him. Beg mac De, the celebrated Christian prophet, is
made to prophecy thus, when the king asks him in what fashion
his kingdom should be after his death,
"•' An evil world,' said the prophet, 'is now at hand, in which men
shall be in bondage, woman free ; mast wanting ; woods smooth ;
blossom bad ; winds many ; wet summer ; green corn ; much cattle ;
scant milk ; dependants burdensome in every country, hogs lean,
chiefs wicked ; bad faith ; chronic killing ; a world withered, raths in
number! "
King Diarmuid died in 558, according to the "Four
Masters ; " it is certain he never retreated a foot from Tara,
but it was probably his next successor who, intimidated at the
clerics' curse and the ringing of their bells — for they circled
Tara ringing their bells against it — deserted the royal hill
for ever. 1
The palace of Cletty, not far from Tara, was also cursed by
St. Cairneach at the request of the queen of the celebrated
Muircheartach Mor mac Earca, and deserted in consequence. 2
1 After this the High-kings of Ireland belonging to the northern Ui Neill
resided in their own ancient palace of Aileach near Derry, and the High-
kings of the southern Ui Neill families resided at the Rath near Castle-
pollard, or at Dun-na-sgiath (" the Fortress of the Shields ") on the brink of
Loch Ennell, near Mullingar. Brian Boru resided at Kincora in Clare,
2 See O'Donovan's letter from Navan on Brugh na Boinne,
CONFLICTS WITH THE CIVIL POWER 233
Another, but probably more justifiable, instance of the clergy
fasting upon a lay ruler and cursing him, was that of the
notorious Raghallach (Reilly), king of Connacht, who made
his queen jealous by his infidelity, and committed other crimes.
The story is thus recorded by Keating —
" The scandal of that evil deed soon spread throughout all the land
and the saints of Ireland were sorrowful by reason thereof. St.
Fechin of Fobar [Fore is West Meath] came in person to Raghallach
to reprehend him, and many saints came in his company to aid him
in inducing the prince to discontinue his criminal amour. But
Raghallach despised their exhortations. Thereupon they fasted
against him, and as there were many other evil-minded persons
besides him in the land, they made an especial prayer to God that for
the sake of an example he should not live out the month of May,
then next to come on, and that he should fall by the hands of villains,
by vile instruments, and in a filthy place ; and all these things hap-
pened to him,"
as Keating goes on to relate, for he was killed by turf-cutters.
Sometimes the saints are found on opposite sides, as at
the Battle of Cooldrevna where Columcille prayed against
the High-king's arms, and Finian prayed for them ; or as in
the well-known case of the expulsion of poor old St.
Mochuda x and his monks in 631 from the monastery at
Rathain, where his piety and success had aroused the jealousy
of the clerics of the Ui Neill, who ejected him by force, despite
his malediction. It was then he returned to his own province
and founded Lismore, which soon became famous. 2
Led away by our admiration of the magnificent outburst or
learning and the innumerable examples of undoubted devotion
displayed by Irishmen from the sixth to the ninth century, we
are very liable to overlook the actual state of society, and to
read into a still primitive social constitution the thoughts and
ideas of later ages, forgetting the real spirit of those early times.
We must remember that St. Patrick had made no change in
the social constitution of the people, and that the new religion
1 Also called Carthach. • 2 See above, p. 21 \.
234 LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
in no way affected their external institutions, and as a natural
consequence even saints and clerics took the side of their own
kings and people, and fought in battle with as much gusto as
any of the clansmen. Women fought side by side with men.
and were only exempted from military service in 590, through
the influence of Columcille at the synod of Druimceat — of
which synod more hereafter, and Adamnan had to get the law
renewed over a hundred years later, for it had become in-
operative. The monks were of course as liable as any other of
the tribesmen to perform military duty to their lords, and were
only exempted * from it in the year 804. The clergy fought
with Cormac mac Culenain as late as 908 at the battle where
he fell, and a great number of them were killed. 2 The
clergy often quarrelled among themselves also. In 673 the
monks of Clonmacnois and Durrow fought one another, and
the men of Clonmacnois slew two hundred of their opponents.
In 816 four hundred men were slain in a fight between rival
monasteries. The clan system, in fact, applied down to the
eighth or ninth century almost as much to the clergy as to the
laity, and with the abandonment of Tara and the weakening
of the High-kingship, the only power which bid fair to over-
ride feud and faction was got rid of, and every man drank for
himself the intoxicating draught of irresponsibility, and each
princeling became a Caesar in his own community.
The saints with their long-accredited exercises of semi-
miraculous powers, formed an admirable ingredient wherewith
to spice a historic romance, such as the soul of the Irish story-
tellers loved, and they were not slow to avail themselves of it.
A passage in the celebrated history of the Boru tribute,
preserved in the twelfth-century Book of Leinster, turns both
Columcille and his biographer Adamnan to account in this
way, by introducing dialogues between them and their con-
1 By Fothadh called " na Canoine " who persuaded Aedh Oirnide to
release them from this duty.
2 Sec " Fragments of Irish Annals " by O'Donovan, p. 210, and his note
CONFLICTS WITH THE CIVIL POWER 235
temporary kings of Ireland, which are worth giving here, as
they preserve some primitive traits, but more especially as an
example of how the later mediaevalists conceived their own
early saints. Aedh [Ae], the High-king of Ireland, had asked
Columcille how many kings of all whom he himself had come
in contact with, or had cognisance of, would win, or had won,
to heaven ; and Columcille answered :
" ' Certainly I know of only three, Daimin King of Oriel, and Ailill
King of Connacht, and Feradach of Corkalee, King of Ossory.
" ' And what good did they do,' said Aedh, ' beyond all other
kings ? '
" ' That's easy told,' said Columcille, ' as for Daimin no cleric ever
departed from him having met with a refusal, and he never reviled
a cleric, nor spoiled church nor sanctuary, and greatly did he bestow
upon the Lord. Afterwards he went to heaven, on account of his mild
dealing with the Lord's people ; and the clerics still chant his litany.
" ' As for Ailill, moreover, this is how he found the Lord's clemency ;
he fought the battle of Cul Conaire with the Clan Fiacrach, and they
defeated him in that battle, and he said to his charioteer, " Look
behind for us, and see whether the slaying is great, and are the
slayers near us ? "
" ' The charioteer looked behind him, and 'twas what he said :
" ' " The slaying with which your people are slain," said he, " is
unendurable."
" ' " It is not their own guilt that falls on them, but the guilt of my
pride and my untruthfulness," said he ; "and turn the chariot for us
against [the enemy]," said he, "for if I be slain amidst them (?) it
will be the saving of a multitude.'
" ' Thereupon the chariot was turned round against the enemy, and
thereafter did Ailill earnestly repent, and fell by his enemies. So
.hat man got the Lord's clemency,' said Columcille.
"'As for Feradach, 1 the King of Ossory, moreover, he was a
;ovetous man without a conscience, and if he were to hear that a
nan in his territory had only one scruple of gold or silver, he would
ake it to himself by force, and put it in the covers of goblets
ind crannogues and swords and chessmen. Thereafter there came
ipon him an unendurable sickness. They eollect round him all
lis treasures, so that he had them in his bed. His enemies came,
he Clan Connla, after that, to seize the house on him. His sons,
1 This story is also told in the " Three Fragments of Irish Annals," p. 9.
236 LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
too, came to him to cany away the jewels with them [to save them
for him].
Do not take them away, my sons," said lie, " for I harried many
tor those treasures, and I desire to harry myself on this side the
tomb for them, and that my enemies may bring them away of my
good will, so that the Deity may not harry me on the other side."
"'After that his sons departed from him, and he himself made
earnest repentance, and died at the hands of his enemies, and gains
the clemency of the Lord.'
" ' Now as for me myself,' said Aedh, ' shall I gain the Lord's
clemency ? '
" ' Thou shalt not gain it on any account,' said Columcille.
"'Well, then, cleric,' said he, 'procure for me from the Deity that
the Leinster men [at least] may not overthrow me.'
" ' Well, now, that is difficult for me,' said Columcille, ' for my
mother was one of them, and the Leinstermen came to me to
Durrow, 1 and made as though they would fast upon me, till I should
grant them a sister's son's request, and what they asked of me was
that no outside king should ever overthrow them ; and I promised
them that too, but here is my cowl for thee, and thou shalt not be
slain while it is about thee.' "
Less clement is Adamnan depicted in his interview, over a
century later, with King Finnachta, who had just been per-
suaded by St. Moiling 2 to remit the Boru tribute (then leviable
off Leinster), until luan, by which the King unwarily under-
stood Monday, but the more acute saint Doomsday, the word
having both significations. Adamnan saw through the decep-
tion in a moment, and hastened to interrupt the plans of his
brother saint.
"He sought therefore," says the Book of Leinster, "the place
where [king] Finnachta was, and sent a clerk of his familia to summon
him to a conference. Finnachta, at the instant, busied himself with
a game of chess, and the cleric said, ' Come, speak with Adamnan.'
" ' I will not,' he answered, ' until this game be ended.'
"The ecclesiastic returned to Adamnan and retailed him this
answer. Then the saint said, ' Go and tell him that in the interval ,
1 See above, p. 170.
2 For Moiling, see above, p. 209-10. The following translation is b\
Standish Hayes O'Grady, " Silva Gadclica," p. 422.
CONFLICTS WITH THE CIVIL POWER 23;
I shall chant fifty psalms, in which fifty is a single psalm that will
deprive his children and grandchildren, and even any namesake of
his, for ever of the kingdom.' z
" Again the clerk accosted Finnachta and told him this, but until
his game was played the King never noticed him at all.
" ' Come, speak with Adamnan,' repeated the clerk, ' and '
" ' I will not,' answered Finnachta, ' till this [fresh] game, too,
shall be finished,' all which the cleric rendered to Adamnan, who
said :
" ' A second time begone to him, tell him that I will sing other
fifty psalms, in which fifty is one that will confer on him shortness
of life.'
" This, too, the clerk, when he was come back, proclaimed to
Finnachta, but till the game was done, he never even perceived the
messenger, who for the third time reiterated his speech.
" ' Till this new game be played out I will not go,' said the King,
and the cleric carried it to Adamnan.
" ' Go to him/ the holy man said, ' tell him that in the meantime I
will sing fifty psalms, and among them is one that will deprive him
of attaining the Lord's peace.'
"This the clerk imparted to Finnachta, who, when he heard it,
with speed and energy put from him the chess-board, and hastened
to where Adamnan was.
" ' Finnachta,' quoth the saint, ' what is thy reason for coming
now, whereas at the first summons thou earnest not ? '
" ' Soon said,' replied Finnachta. ' As for that which first thou
didst threaten against me ; that of my children, or even of my
namesakes, not an individual ever should rule Ireland — I took it
easily. The other matter which thou heldest out to me — shortness
of life — that I esteemed but lightly, for Moiling had promised me
heaven. But the third thing which thou threatenedst me — to deprive
me of the Lord's peace — that I endured not to hear without coming
in obedience to thy voice.'
" Now the motive for which God wrought this was : that the gift
which Moiling had promised to the King for remission of the tribute
He suffered not Adamnan to dock him of."
It would be easy to multiply such scenes from the writings
of the ancient Irish. That they are not altogether eleventh
or twelfth-century inventions, but either the embodiment of a
1 For a description of the awful consequences of a saint's curse that
make a timid lunatic out of a valliant warrior see O'Donovan's frag-
mentary "Annals," p. 233.
238 LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
vivid tradition, or else, in some cases, the working-up of earlier
documents, now lost, is, I think, certain, but we possess no
criterion whereby we may winnow out the grains of truth
from the chaff of myth, invention, or perhaps in some cases
(where tribal honour is at stake) deliberate falsehood. The
only thing we can say with perfect certainty is that this is the
way in which the contemporaries of St. Lawrence O'Toole
pictured for themselves the contemporaries of St. Columcille
and St. Adamnan.
CHAPTER XIX
THE BARDIC SCHOOLS
We must now, leaving verifiable history behind us, attempt a
cautious step backwards from the known into the doubtful,
and see what in the way of literature is said to have been
produced by the pagans. We know that side by side with
the colleges of the clergy there flourished, perhaps in a more
informal way, the purely Irish schools of the Brehons and the
Bards. Unhappily however, while, thanks to the great
number of the Lives of the Saints, 1 we know much about
the Christian colleges, there is very little to be discovered about
the bardic institutions. These were almost certainly a con-
tinuation of the schools of the druids, and represented some-
thing far more antique than even the very earliest schools of
the Christians, but unlike them they were not centred in a
fixed locality nor in a cluster of houses, but seem to have been
peripatetic. The bardic scholars grouped themselves not
round a locality but round a personality, and wherever it
pleased their master to wander — and that was pretty much all
1 O'Clery notices, in his Feilire na Naomh, the lives of thirty-one saints
written in Irish, all extant in his time, not to speak of Latin ones. I fancy
m<»t of them still survive. Stokes printed nine from the Book of Lismore ;
Standish Hayes O'Grady four more from various sources.
239
240 LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
round Ireland — there they followed, and the people seem to
have willingly supported them.
There seems to be some confusion as to the forms into
which what must have been originally the druidic school
disintegrated itself in the fifth and succeeding centuries, but
from it we can see emerging the poet, the Brehon, and the
historian, not all at once, but gradually. In the earliest period
the functions of all three were often, if not always, united in
one single person, and all poets were ipso facto judges as well.
We have a distinct account of the great occasion upon which
the poet lost his privilege of acting as a judge merely because
he was a poet. It appears that from the very earliest date the
learned classes, especially the " files," had evolved a dialect of
their own, which was perfectly dark and obscure to every one
except themselves. This was the Bearla Feni, in which so
much of the Brehon law and many poems are written, and
which continued to be used, to some extent, by poets down to
the very beginning of the eighteenth century. Owing to
their predilection for this dialect, the first blow, according to
Irish accounts, was struck at their judicial supremacy by the
hands of laymen, during the reign of Conor mac Nessa, some
time before the birth of Christ. This was the occasion when
the sages Fercertne and Neide contended for the office of ♦
arch-ollav of Erin, with its beautiful robe of feathers, the
Tugen. 1 Their discourse, still extant in at least three MSS.
under the title of the " Dialogue of the Two Sages," 2 was so
learned, and they contended with one another in terms so
abstruse that, as the chronicler in the Book of Ballymote
puts it : —
" Obscure to every one seemed the speech which the poets uttered
in that discussion, and the legal decision which they delivered was
not clear to the kings and to the other poets.
"'These men alone,' said, the kings, 'have their judgment and
1 See Cormac's glossary sub voce.
2 See " Irische Texte," Dritte Serie, I Heft, pp. 187 and 204.
THE BARDIC SCHOOLS 241
their skill, and their knowledge. In the first place we do not
understand what they say.'
" ' Well, then,' said Conor, ' every one shall have his share therein
from to-day for ever.' " *
This was the occasion upon which Conor made the law that
the office of poet should no longer carry with it, of necessity,
the office of judge, for, says the ancient writer, "poets alone
had judicature from the time that Amairgin Whiteknee
delivered the first judgment in Erin " until then.
That the Bardic schools, which we know flourished as public
institutions with scarcely a break from the Synod of Drumceat
in 590 (where regular lands were set apart for their endow-
ment) down to the seventeenth century, were really a
continuation of the Druidic schools, and embodied much that
was purely pagan in their curricula, is, I think, amply shown
by the curious fragments of metrical text-books preserved in
the Books of Leinster and Ballymote, in a MS. in Trinity
College, and in a MS. in the Bodleian, all four of which have
been recently admirably edited by Thurneysen as a continuous
text. 2 He has not however ventured upon a translation, for
the scholar would be indeed a bold one who in the present state
of Celtic scholarship would attempt a complete interpretation
of tracts so antique and difficult. That they date, partially at
least, from pre-Christian times seems to me certain from their
prescribing amongst other things for the poet's course in one
of his years of study a knowledge of the magical incantations
called Tenmlaida y Imbas forosnaiy> and Dichetal do chennaib na
tuaithe, and making him in another year learn a certain poem
or incantation called Cetnad^ of which the text says that —
" It is used for finding out a theft. One sings it, that is to say,
through the right rist on the track of the stolen beast" [observe the
antique assumption that the only kind of wealth to be stolen is cattle]
1 Agallamh an da Suadh.
2 " Irische Texte," Dritte serie, Heft i.
3 See above, p. 84;
8
242 LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
" or on the track of the thief, in case the beast is dead. And one sings
it three times on the one [track] or the other. If, however, one
does not find the track, one sings it through the right list, and goes
to sleep upon it, and in one's sleep the man who has brought it
away is clearly shown and made known. Another virtue [of this
lay] : one speaks it into the right palm and rubs with it the quarters
of the horse before one mounts it, and the horse will not be over-
thrown, and the man will not be thrown off or wounded."
Another Cetnad to be learned by the poet, in which he
desires length of life, is addressed to " the seven daughters of
the sea, who shape the thread of the long-lived children."
Another with which he had to make himself familiar was the
Glam dlchlnnj- intended to satirise and punish the prince who
refused to a poet the reward of his poem. The poet —
" was to fast upon the lands of the king for whom the poem was to
be made, and the consent of thirty laymen, thirty bishops " — a
Christian touch to make the passage pass muster — " and thirty poets
should be had to compose the satire ; and it was a crime to them to
prevent it when the reward of the poem was withheld" — a pagan touch
as a make-weight on the other side ! " The poet then, in a company
of seven, that is, six others and himself, upon whom six poetic
degrees had been conferred, namely afocloc, macfuirmedh, doss, cana,
cli, anradh, and ollamh, went at the rising of the sun to a hill which
should be situated on the boundary of seven lands, and each of them
was to turn his face to a different land, and the ollamh' s (ollav's) face
was to be turned to the land of the king, who was to be satirised,
and their backs should be turned to a hawthorn which should be
growing upon the top of a hill, and the wind should be blowing from
the north, and each man was to hold a perforated stone and a thorn
of the hawthorn in his hand, and each man was to sing a verse of
this composition for the king — the ollamh or chief poet to take the
lead with his own verse, and the others in concert after him with
theirs; and each then should place his stone and his thorn under
the stem of the hawthorn, and if it was they that were in the
wrong in the case, the ground of the hill would swallow them, and
if it was the king that was in the wrong, the ground would swallow
him and his wife, and his son and his steed, and his robes and his
hound. The satire of the macfuirmedh fell on the hound, the satire
1 See O'Curry's " Manners and Customs," vol. ii. p. 217, and " Irische
Texte," Dritte serie, Heft. i. pp. 96 and 125.
THE BARDIC SCHOOLS 243
of the focloc on the robes, the satire of the doss on the arms, the
satire of the cana on the wife, the satire of the cli on the son, the
satire of the anrad on the steed, 1 the satire of the ollamh on the
king."
These instances that I have mentioned occurring in the
books of the poets' instruction, are evidently remains of magic
incantations and terrifying magic ceremonies, taken over from
the schools and times of the druids, and carried on into the
Christian era, for nobody, I imagine, could contend that they
had their origin after Ireland had been Christianised. 2 And
the occurrence in the poets' text-books of such evidently pagan
passages, side by side with allusions to Athairne the poet — a
contemporary of Conor mac Nessa, a little before the birth of
Christ, Caoilte, the Fenian poet of the third century, Cormac
his contemporary, Laidcend mac Balrchida about the year
400, and others — seems to me to be fresh proof for the real
objective existence of these characters. For if part of the
poets' text-books can be thus shown to have preserved things
taught in the pre-Christian times — to be in fact actually pre-
Christian — why should we doubt the reality of the pre-Christian
persons mixed up with them ?
The first poem written in Ireland by a Milesian is said to
be the curious rhapsody of Amergin, the brother of Eber, Ir,
and Erimon, who on landing broke out in a strain of
exultation : —
" I am the wind which breathes upon the sea,
I am the wave of the ocean,
I am the murmur of the billows,
I am the ox of the seven combats,
I am the vulture upon the rock,
I am a beam of the sun,
1 It is curious to thus make the steed rank apparently next to the king
himself, and above the wife and son, for the anrad who curses the steed
ranks next to the ollamh.
'-' Thurneysen expresses some doubt about the antiquity of the lasl
citation.
244 LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
I am the fairest of plants,
I am a wild boar in valour,
1 am a salmon in the water,
I am a lake in the plain,
I am a word of science,
I am the point of the lance of battle,
I am the god who creates in the head [i.e., of man] the fire [i.e.,
the thought]
Who is it who throws light into the meeting on the mountain ?
Who announces the ages of the moon [if not I] ?
Who teaches the place where couches the sea [if not I] ? " ■
There are two more poems attributed to Amergin ot much
the same nature, very ancient and very strange. Irish
tradition has always represented these poems as the first made
by our ancestors in Ireland, and no doubt they do actually
represent the oldest surviving lines in the vernacular of any
country in Europe except Greece alone.
The other pre-Christian poets 2 of whom we hear most, and
to whom certain surviving fragments are ascribed, are Feir-
ceirtne, surnamed Jile, or the poet, who is usually credited with
the authorship of the well-known grammatical treatise called
Uraicept na n-Eigeas or " Primer of the Learned. "3 It was he
1 See Text I. paragraph 123 of Thurneysen's "Mittelirische Verslehren"
for three versions of this curious poem, printed side by side from the
Books of Leinster and Ballymote, and a MS. in the Bodleian. The old
Irish tract for the instruction of poets gives it as an example of what it
calls Cetal do chendaib. I have followed D'Arbois de Jubainville's inter-
pretation of it. He sees in it a pantheistic spirit, but Dr. Sigerson has
proved, I think quite conclusively, that it is liable to a different interpre-
tation, a panegyric upon the bard's own prowess, couched in enigmatic
metaphor. (See " Bards of the Gael and Gaul," p. 379.)
2 A number of names are mentioned — chiefly in connection with law
fragments — of kings and poets who lived centuries before the birth of
Christ, including an elegy by Lughaidh, son of Ith (from whom the Ithians
sprang), on his wife's death, Cimbaeth the founder of Emania, before
whose reign Tighearnach the Annalist considered omnia monumental,
Scotorum to be incerta, Roigne, the son of Hugony the Great, who lived
p. early three hundred years before Christ, and some others.
3 The " Uraicept " or " Uraiceacht " is sometimes ascribed to Forchern.
THE BARDIC SCHOOLS 245
who contended with Neide for the arch-poet's robe, causing King
Conor to decide that no poet should in future be also of necessity
a judge. The Uraicept begins with this preface or introduction:
" The Book of Feirceirtne here. Its place Emania ; its time
the time of Conor mac Nessa ; its person Feirceirtne the poet ;
its cause to bring ignorant people to knowledge." There is
also a poem attributed to him on the death of Curoi mac
Daire, the great southern chieftain, whom Cuchulain slew,
and the Book of Invasions contains a valuable poem ascribed to
him, recounting how Ollamh Fodla, a monarch who is said to
have flourished many centuries before, established a college of
professors at Tara.
There was a poet called Adhna, the father of that Neide
with whom Feirceirtne contended for the poet's robe,
who also lived at the court of Conor mac Nessa, and his
name is mentioned in connection with some fragments of
laws.
Athairne, the overbearing insolent satirist from the Hill
of Howth, who figures largely in Irish romance, was
contemporaneous with these, though I do not know that
any poem is attributed to him. But he and a poet
called Forchern, with Feirceirtne and Neide, are said to
have compiled a code of laws, now embodied with others
under the title of TSreithe Neimhidh in the Brehon i aw
Books.
There was a poet Lughar at the Court of Oilioll and Mcve
in Connacht about the same time, and a poem on the descen-
dants of Fergus mac Roigh [Roy] is ascribed to him, but as
lie was contemporaneous with that warrior he could not have
written about his descendants.
It gives examples of the declensions of nouns and adjectives in Irish,
distinguishing feminine nouns from masculine, etc. It gives rules of
syntax, and exemplifies the declensions by quotations from ancient poets.
A critical edition of it from the surviving manuscripts that cent, mi it in
whole or part is a desideratum.
246 LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
There is a prose tract called Moran's Will, 1 ascribed to
Moran, a well-known jurist who lived at the close of the first
century.
Several other authors, either of short poems or law frag-
ments, are mentioned in the second and third centuries, such
as Feradach king of Ireland, Modan, Ciothruadh the poet,
Fingin, Oilioll Olum himself, the great king of Munster, to
whom are traced so many of the southern families. Fithil, a
judge, and perhaps some others, none of whom need be
particularised.
At the end of the third century we come upon three or
four names of vast repute in Irish history, into whose mouths
a quantity of pieces are put, most of which are evidently of
later date. These are the great Cormac mac Art himself,
the most striking king that ever reigned in pagan Ireland, he
who built those palaces on Tara Hill whose ruins still remain ;
Finn mac Cumhail his son-in-law and captain ; Ossian, Finn's
son ; Fergus, Ossian 's brother ; and Caoilte [Cweeltya] mac
Ronain.
The poetry ascribed to Finn mac Cumhail, Ossian, and the
other Fenian singers we will not examine in this place, but
we must not pass by one of the most remarkable prose tracts
ot ancient Ireland with which I am acquainted, the famous
treatise ascribed to King Cormac, and well known in Irish
literature as the "Teagasg nogh," or Instruction of a Prince,
which is written in a curious style, by way of question and
answer. Cairbre, Cormac's son, he who afterwards fell out
with and overthrew the Fenians, is supposed to be learning
kingly wisdom at his father's feet, and that experienced monarch
instructs him in the pagan morality of the time, and gives
him all kinds of information and advice. The piece, which is
heavily glossed in the Book of Ballymote, on account of the
antiquity of the language, is of some length, and is far too
interesting to pass by without quoting from it.
1 Udacht Morain. H. 2, 7, T. C, D.
THE BARDIC SCHOOLS 247
THE INSTRUCTION OF A PRINCE,
" i O grandson of Con, O Cormac/ said Cairbre, ' what is good for
a king.' 1
" ' That is plain/ said Cormac, ( it is good for him to have patience
and not to dispute, self-government without anger, affability without
haughtiness, diligent attention to history, strict observance of cove-
nants and agreements, strictness mitigated by mercy in the execution
of laws. ... It is good for him [to make] fertile land, to invite ships
to import jewels of price across sea, to purchase and bestow raiment,
[to keep] vigorous swordsmen for protecting his territories, [to make]
war outside his own territories, to attend the sick, to discipline his
soldiers ... let him enforce fear, let him perfect peace, [let him]
give much of metheglin and wine, let him pronounce just judgments
of light, let him speak all truth, for it is through the truth of a king
that God gives favourable seasons.'
" 'O grandson of Con, O Cormac,' said Cairbre, 'what is good for
the welfare of a country ? '
" ' That is plain,' said Cormac, ' frequent convocations of sapient
and good men to investigate its affairs, to abolish each evil and
retain each wholesome institution, to attend to the precepts of the
elders ; let every assembly be convened according to law, let the
law be in the hands of the nobles, let the chieftains be upright and
unwilling to oppress the poor/ " etc., etc.
A more interesting passage is the following : —
" ' O grandson of Con, O Cormac, what are the duties of a prince
at a banqueting-house ? '
" ' A Prince on Samhan's [now All Souls] Day, should light his
lamps, and welcome his guests with clapping of hands, procure
comfortable scats, the cupbearers should be respectable and active
iu the distribution of meat and drink. Let there be moderation of
music, short stories, a welcoming countenance, a welcome for the
learned, pleasant conversations, and the like, these are the duties of
the prince, and the arrangement of the banqueting-house.' "
After this Cairbre puts an important question which was
asked often enough during the period of the Brehon law, and
1 In the original in the Book of Ballymote : "A ua Cuinn a Cormaic,
ol coirbie cia is deach [i.e., maith], do Ri. Nin ol cormac [i.e., Xi doiligh
liom sin]. As deach [i.e., maith], do eimli aiiunne [/.<•., t'<>i^hde] gan deabha
[i.e., imreasoin] uallcadi fosdadh [i.e., foasdadh] gan fearg. Soagallamha
gan mordhacht," etc. The glosses in brackets are written above the words.
248 LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
which for over a thousand years scarce ever received a different
answer. He asks, " For what qualifications is a king elected
over countries and tribes of people ? "
Cormac in his answer embodies the views of every clan in
Ireland in their practical choice of a leader.
" From the goodness of his shape and family, from his ex-
perience and wisdom, from his prudence and magnanimity, from
his eloquence and bravery in battle, and from the number of his
friends,"
After this follows a long description of the qualifications of a
prince, and Cairbre having heard it puts this question : — u O
grandson of Con, what was thy deportment when a youth ; "
to which he receives the following striking answer :
" ' I was cheerful at the Banquet of the Midh-chuarta [Mee-cuarta,
" house of the circulation of mead ''], fierce in battle, but vigilant and
circumspect. I was kind to friends, a physician to the sick, merciful
towards the weak, stern towards the headstrong. Although possessed
of knowledge, I was inclined towards taciturnity. 1 Although strong
I was not haughty. I mocked not the old although I was young. I
was not vain although I was valiant. When I spoke of a person in
his absence I praised, not defamed him, for it is by these customs
that we are known to be courteous and civilised (liaghalach).' "
There is an extremely beautiful answer given later on by
Cormac to the rather simple question of his son :
" ' O grandson of Con, what is good for me ? '
" ' If thou attend to my command/ answers Cormac, ' thou wilt not
1 Compare Henry I V.'s advice to his son, not to make himself too familiar
but rather to stand aloof from his companions.
" Had I so lavish of my presence been,
So common-hackneyed in the eyes of men,
So stale and cheap to vulgar company —
Opinion, that did help me to the crown,
Had still kept loyal to possession," etc.
As for Richard his predecessor —
" The skipping king, he ambled up and down
With shallow jesters and rash bavin wits,
Soon kindled, and soon burned ; carded his state ;
Mingled his royalty with capering fools, ' etc.
" Henry IV.," Part I„ act iii., scene 2.
THE BARDIC SCHOOLS 249
mock the old although thou art young, nor the poor although thou
art well-clad, nor the lame although thou art agile, nor the blind
although thou art clear-sighted, nor the feeble although thou art
strong, nor the ignorant although thou art learned. Be not slothful,
nor passionate, nor penurious, nor idle, nor jealous, for he who is so
is an object of hatred to God as well as to man.' "
" ' O grandson of Con,' asks Cairbre, in another place, ' I would
fain know how I am to conduct myself among the wise and among
the foolish, among friends and among strangers, among the old and
among the young,' and to this question his father gives this notable
response.
" ' Be not too knowing nor too simple ; be not proud, be not inactive,
be not too humble nor yet haughty ; be not talkative but be not too
silent ; be not timid neither be severe. For if thou shouldest appear
too knowing thou wouldst be satirised and abused ; if too simple
thou wouldst be imposed upon ; if too proud thou wouldst be
shunned ; if too humble thy dignity would suffer ; if talkative thou
wouldst not be deemed learned ; if too severe thy character would
be defamed ; if too timid thy rights would be encroached upon.' "
To the curious question, " O grandson of Con, what are the
most lasting things in the world ? " the equally curious and to
me unintelligible answer is returned, "Grass, copper, and yew."
Of women, King Cormac, like so many monarchs from
Solomon down, has nothing good to say, perhaps his high
position did not help him to judge them impartially. At least,
to the question, " O grandson of Con, how shall I distinguish
the characters of women ? " the following bitter answer is
given :
" ' I know them, but I cannot describe them. Their counsel is
foolish, they are forgetful of love, most headstrong in their desires,
fond of folly, prone to enter rashly into engagements, given to
swearing, proud to be asked in marriage, tenacious of enmity, cheer-
less at the banquet, rejectors of reconciliation, prone to strife, of
much garrulity. Until evil be good, until hell be heaven, until the sun
hide his light, until the stars of heaven fall, women will remain as we
have stated. Woe to him, my son, who desires or serves a bad
woman, woe to every one who has got a bad wife ' " !
This Christian allusion to heaven and hell, and some others
of the same sort, show that despite a considerable pagan flavour-
250 LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
ing the tract cannot be entirely the work of King Cormac,
though it may very well be the embodiment and extension of an
ancient pagan discourse, for, as we have seen, after Christianity
had succeeded in getting the upper handover paganism, a kind
of tacit compromise was arrived at, by means of which the
bards and files and other representatives of the old pagan
learning, were allowed to continue to propagate their stories,
tales, poems, and genealogies, at the price of incorporating with
them a small share of Christian alloy, or, to use a different
simile, just as the vessels of some feudatory nations are compelled
to fly at the mast-head the flag of the suzerain power. But so
badly has the dovetailing of the Christian and the pagan parts
been managed in most of the older romances, that the pieces
come away quite separate in the hands of even the least skilled
analyser, and the pagan substratum stands forth entirely dis-
tinct from the Christian accretion.
CHAPTER XX
THE SUGGESTIVELY PAGAN ELEMENT IN IRISH LITERATURE
It is this easy analysis of early Irish literature into its ante-
Christian and its post-Christian elements, which lends to it its
absorbing value and interest. For when all spurious accretions
have been stripped off, we find in the most ancient Irish poems
and sagas, a genuine picture of pagan life in Europe, such as
we look for in vain elsewhere.
" The Church," writes Windisch, " adopted towards pagan sagas,
the same position that it adopted towards pagan law. ... I see
no sufficient ground for doubting that really genuine pictures of
a pre-Christian culture are preserved to us in the individual sagas,
pictures which are of course in some places faded, and in others
painted over by a later hand." *
Again in his notes on the story of Deirdre, he remarks —
"The saga originated in pagan, and was propagated in Christian
times, and that too without its seeking fresh nutriment as a rule from
Christian elements. But we must ascribe it to the influence of
Christianity that what is specifically pagan in Irish saga is blurred
1 " Ich sehe daher keinen geniigenden Grand daran zu zweifeln dass
uns in den Einzelsagen wirklich echte Bilder einer vorchristlichen Cult in-
erhalten sind, allerdings Bilder die an einigen Stellen verblassl, an andern
von spaterer Hand ubermalt sind " (" Irische Texte," I., p. 253).
251
252 LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
over and forced into the background. And yet there exist many
whose contents are plainly mythological. The Christian monks were
certainly not tin- first who reduced the ancient sagas to fixed form,
but later on they copied them faithfully, and propagated them after
Ireland had been converted to Christianity."
Zimmer too has come to the same conclusion.
" Nothing," he writes, " except a spurious criticism which takes
for original and primitive the most palpable nonsense of which
Middle-Irish writers from the twelfth to the sixteenth century are
guilty with regard to their own antiquity, which is in many respects
strange and foreign to them : nothing but such a criticism can, on
the other hand, make the attempt to doubt of the historical character
of the chief persons of the Saga cycles. 1 For we believe that Meve,
Conor mac Nessa, Cuchulain, and Finn mac Ciimhail, are exactly as
much historical personalities as Arminius, or Dietrich of Bern, or
Etzel, and their date is just as well determined as that of the above-
mentioned heroes and kings, who are glorified in song by the
Germans, even though, in the case of Irish heroes and kings, external j
witnesses are wanting.'"
M. d'Arbois de Jubainville expresses himself in like terms.
" We have no reason," he writes, " to doubt of the reality of
the principal role in this [cycle of Cuchulain] ; " 2 and of the
story of the Boru tribute which was imposed on Leinster about
a century later ; he writes, " Le recit a pour base des faits reels,
quoique certains details aient ete crees par l'imagination ; " and
again, "Irish epic story, barbarous though it is, is, like Irish
law, a monument of a civilisation far superior to that of the
most ancient Germans ; if the Roman idea ot the state was
wanting to that civilisation, and, if that defect in it was a
radical flaw, still there is an intellectual culture to be found
1 " Nur eine Afterkritik die den handgreiflichsten Unsinn durch den ,
mittelirische Schreiber des 12-16 Jahrh. sich am eigenem Altherthum
versiindigen das ihnen in mancher Hinsicht fremd ist fur urfangliche
Weisheit halt, nun eine solche Kritik kann, umgekehrt den Versuch machen
an dem historischen Character der Hauptperson beider Sagenkreise zu
zweifeln," etc. ( " Kelt-Studien," Heft. II., p. 189).
* " Introduction a l'etude de la literature celtique," p. 217,
PAGAN ELEMENT IN IRISH LITER A TURE 253
there, far more developed than amongst the primitive
Germans.' " *
" Ireland, in fact," writes M. Darmesteter in his " English Studies,"
well summing up the legitimate conclusions from the works of the
great Celtic scholars, " has the peculiar privilege of a history con-
tinuous from the earliest centuries of our era until the present day.
She has preserved in the infinite wealth of her literature a complete
and faithful picture of the ancient civilisation of the Celts. Irish
literature is therefore the key which opens the Celtic world."
But the Celtic world means a large portion of Europe, and
the key to unlock the door of its past history is in the Irish
manuscripts of saga and poeiTL Without them the student
would have to view the past history of Europe through the dis-
torting glasses of the Greeks and Romans, to whom all outer
nations were barbarians, into whose social life they had no
motive for inquiring. He would have no other means of
estimating what were the feelings, modes of life, manners, and
habits, of those great races who possessed so large a part of the
ancient world, Gaul, Belgium, North Italy, parts of Germany,
Spain, Switzerland, and the British Isles ; who burned Rome,
plundered Greece, and colonised Asia Minor. But in the
Irish romances and historical sagas, he sees come to light
another standard by which to measure. Through this early
Irish peep-hole he gets a clear look at the life and manners
of the race in one of its strongholds, from which he may
conjecture and even assume a good deal with regard to
the others.
That the pictures of social life and early society drawn in
the Irish romances represent phases not common to the
Irish alone, but to large portions of that Celtic race which
once owned so much of Europe, may be surmised with some
certainty from the way in which characteristics of the Celts
barely mentioned by Greek and Roman writers re-appear
amongst the Irish in all the intimate detail and fond expansion
1 Preface to " L'Epopec Celtique en Irkmdc."
.254 LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
of romance. M. cTArbois de Jubainville has drawn attention
to many such instances.
Posidonius, who was a friend of Cicero, and wrote about a
hundred years before Christ, mentions a custom which existed
in Gaul in his time of fighting at a feast for the best bit which
was to be given to the most valiant warrior. This custom, I
briefly noticed by Posidonius, might be passed by unnoticed by
the ordinary reader, but the Irish one will remember the early
romances of his race in which the curadh-mir or " heroes bit "
so largely figures. He will remember that it is upon this
custom that one of the greatest sagas of the Cuchulain cycle,
the feast of Bricriu, hinges. Bricriu, the Thersites of the
Red Branch, having built a new and magnificent house,
determines to invite King Conor and the other chieftains to
a feast, for the house was very magnificent.
" The dining hall was built like that of the High-king at Tara.
From the hearth to the wall were nine beds, and each of the side
walls was thirty-five feet high and covered with ornaments of gilt
bronze. Against one of the side walls of that palace was reared a j
royal bed destined for Conor, 1 king of Ulster, which looked down |
upon all the others. It was ornamented with carbuncles and pre- '
cious stones and other gems of great price. The gold and silver and
all sorts of jewellery which covered that bed shone with such splen-
dour that the night was as brilliant as the day."
He had prepared a magnificent curadh-mir for the feast,
consisting of a seven-year old pig, and a seven-year old cow
that had been fed on milk and corn and the finest food since their
birth, a hundred cakes of corn cooked with honey — and every
1 This name is written Concobar in the ancient texts, and Conchubhair in
the modern language, pronounced Cun-hoo-ar or Cun-hoor, whence the
Anglicised form Conor. The " b " was in early times pronounced, but there
are traces of its being dropped as early as the twelfth century, though with
that orthographical conservatism which so distinguishes the Irish lan-
guage, it has been preserved down to the present day. Zimmer says he
found it spelt Conchor in the twelfth-century book the Liber Landavensis.
From this the form Crochor (" cr " for " en " as is usual in Connacht) Id-
lowed, and the name is now pronounced either Cun-a-char or Cruch-oor.
PAGAN ELEMENT IN IRISH LITERA TURE 255
four cakes took a sack of corn to make them — and a vat 01
wine large enough to hold three of the warriors of the
Ultonians. This magnificent " heroes' bit " he secretly pro-
mises to each of three warriors in turn, Laeghaire [Leary],
Conall Cearnach, and Cuchulain, hoping to excite a quarrel
among them. On the result of his expedient the saga
turns. *
Again, Caesar tells us that when he invaded the Gauls they
did not fight any longer in chariots, but it is recorded that they
did so fight two hundred years before his time, even as the Persians
fought against the Greeks, and as the Greeks themselves must
have fought in a still earlier age commemorated by Homer. But
in the Irish sagas we find this epic mode of warfare in full force.
Every great man has his charioteer, they fight from their cars
as in Homeric days, and much is told us of both steed, chariot
and driver. In the above-mentioned sa°;a of Bricriu's feast it
is the charioteers of the three warriors who claim the heroes'
bit for their masters, since they are apparently ashamed to make
the first move themselves. The charioteer was more than a
mere servant. Cuchulain sometimes calls his charioteer friend
or master (popa), and on the occasion of his fight with Ferdiad
desires him in case he (Cuchulain) should show signs or
yielding, to " excite reproach and speak evil to me so that the
ire of my rage and anger should grow the more on me, but if
he give ground before me thou shalt laud me and praise me and
speak good words to me that my courage may be the greater,"
and this command his friend and charioteer punctually
executes.
The chariot itself is in many places graphically de-
1 The reminiscence of the hero-bit appears to have lingered on in folk
memory. A correspondent, Mr. Terence Kelly, from near Omagh, in the
county Tyrone, tells me that he often heard a story told by an <>M
shanachie and herb-doctor in that neighbourhood who spoke a half-Scotch
dialect of English, in which the hero-bit figured, but it had fallen in
magnificence, and was represented as bannocks and butter will) some
minor delicacies.
256 LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
scribed. Here is how its approach is pourtrayed in the
Tain —
" It was not long," says the chronicler, "until Ferdiad's charioteer
heard the noise approaching, the clamour and the rattle, and the
whistling, and the tramp, and the thunder, and the clatter and the
roar, namely the shield-noise of the light shields, and the hissing of
the spears, and the loud clangour of the swords, and the tinkling of
the helmet, and the ringing of the armour, and the friction of the
arms ; the dangling of the missive weapons, the straining of the
ropes, and the loud clattering of the wheels, and the creaking of the
chariot, and the trampling of the horses, and the triumphant advance
of the champion and the warrior towards the ford approaching him."
In the romance called the " Intoxication of the Ultonians,"
it is mentioned that they drave so fast in the wake of Cuchu-
lain, that " the iron wheels of the chariots cut the roots of the
immense trees." Here is how the romancist describes the
advance of such a body upon Tara-Luachra.
" Not long were they there, the two watchers and the two druids,
until a full fierce rush of the first band broke hither past the glen.
Such was the fury with which they advanced that there was not left
a spear on a rack, nor a shield on a spike, nor a sword in an armoury
in Tara-Luachra that did not fall down. From every house on which
was thatch in Tara-Luachra it fell in immense flakes. One would
think that it was the sea that had come over the walls and over the
corners of the world upon them. The forms of countenances were
changed, and there was chattering of teeth in Tara-Luachra within.
The two druids fell in fits and in faintings and in paroxysms, one of
them out over the wall and the other over the wall inside."
On another occasion the approach of Cuchulain's chariot is
thus described —
" Like a mering were the two dykes which the iron wheels of
Cuchulain's chariot made on that day of the sides of the road. Like
flocks of dark birds pouring over a vast plain were the blocks and
round sods and turves of the earth which the horses would cast away
behind them against the ... of the wind. Like a flock of swans
pouring over a vast plain was the foam which they flung before them
over the muzzles of their bridles. Like the smoke from a roval
PAGAN ELEMENT IN IRISH LITERA TURE 257
hostel was the dust and breath of the dense vapour, because of the
vehemence of the driving which Liag, son of Riangabhra, on that
day gave to the two steeds of Cuchulain." *
Elsewhere the chariot itself is described as " wythe-wickered,
two bright bronze wheels, a white pole of bright silver with a
veining of white bronze, a very high creaking body, having its
firm sloping sides ornamented with cred (tin ?), a back-arched
rich golden yoke, two rich yellow-peaked alh y hardened sword-
straight axle-spindles." Laeghaire's chariot is described in
another piece as " a chariot wythe-wickered, two firm black
wheels, two pliant beautiful reins, hardened sword-straight
axle-spindles, a new fresh-polished body, a back-arched rich
silver-mounted yoke, two rich-yellow peaked alls ... a bird
plume of the usual feathers over the body of the chariot." 2
Descriptions like these are constantly occurring in the Irish
tales, and enable us to realise better the heroic period of warfare
and to fill up in our imagination many a long-regretted lacuna
in our knowledge of primitive Europe.
" Those philosophers," says Diodorus Siculus, a Greek writer of
the Augustan age, speaking of the Druids, "like the lyric poets
called bards, have a great authority both in affairs of peace and war,
friends and enemies listen to them. Also when the two armies are
in presence of one another and swords drawn and spears couched,
they throw themselves into the midst of the combatants and appease
them as though they were charming wild beasts. Thus even
amongst the most savage barbarians anger submits to the rule of
wisdom, and the god of war pays homage to the Muses."
To show that the manners and customs of the Keltoi or Celts
of whom Diodorus speaks were in this respect identical with
those of their Irish cousins (or brothers), and to give another
instance of the warm light shed by Irish literature upon the
early customs of Western Europe I shall convert the abstract
1 See "Revue Celtique," vol. xiv. p. 417, translated by Whitley Stokes.
3 Leabhar na h-Uidhre, p. 122, col. 2, translated by Sullivan,
" Manners and Customs," vol. i. p. cccclxxviii.
R
258 LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
into the concrete by a page or two from an Irish romance, not
an old one, 1 but one which no doubt preserves many original
traditionary traits. In this story Finn mac Ciimhail or Cool 2
at a great feast in his fort at Allen asks Goll about some tribute
which he claimed, and is dissatisfied at the answer of Goll, who
may be called the Ajax of the Fenians. After that there arose
a quarrel at the feast, the rise of which is thus graphically
pourtrayed —
" ' Goll,' said Finn, ' you have acknowledged in that speech that
you came from the city of Beirbhe to the battle of Cnoca, and that
you slew my father there, and it is a bold and disobedient thing of
you to tell me that,' said Finn.
" ' By my hand, O Finn,' said Goll, ' if you were to dishonour me
as your father did, I would give you the same payment that I gave
Cool.'
" ' Goll,' said Finn, ' I would be well able not to let that word pass
with you, for I have a hundred valiant warriors in my following for
every one that is in yours.'
" ' Your father had that also,' said Goll, ' and yet I avenged my
dishonour on him, and I would do the same to you if you were to
deserve it of me.'
" White-skinned Carroll O Baoisgne 3 spake, and 't is what he said :
' O Goll,' said he, ' there is many a man,' said he, ' to silence you and
your people in the household of Finn mac Cumhail.'
" Bald cursing Conan mac Morna spake, and 't is what he said, ' I
swear by my arms of valour,' said he, ' that Goll, the day he has least
men, has a man and a hundred in his household, and not a man of
them but would silence you.'
" ' Are you one of those, perverse, bald-headed Conan ? ' said
Carroll.
" ' I am one of them, black-visaged, nail-torn, skin-scratched, little-
strength Carroll,' says Conan, ' and I would soon prove it to you that
Cumhail was in the wrong-'
1 In Irish Fionn mac Cumhail, pronounced " Finn (or Fewn in Mini-
ster), mac Coo-wil " or " Cool."
2 I translated this from manuscript in my possession made by one
Patrick O'Pronty (an ancestor, I think, of Charlotte Bronte) in 1763. Mr.
Standish Hayes O'Grady has since published a somewhat different text of it.
3 Pronounced " Bvveesg-na," the triphthong aoi is always pronounced
like ce in Irish.
PAGAN ELEMENT IN IRISH LITER A TURE 259
"It was then that Carroll arose, and he struck a daring fist, quick
and ready, upon Conan, and there was no submission in Conan's
answer, for he struck the second fist on Carroll in the middle of his
face and his teeth."
Upon this the chronicler relates how first one joined in and
then another, until at last all the adherents of Goll and Finn
and even the captains themselves are hard at work. "After
that," he adds, " bad was the place for a mild, smooth-fingered
woman or a weak or infirm person, or an aged, long-lived
elder." This terrific fight continued "from the beginning of
the night till the rising of the sun in the morning," and was
only stopped — just as Diodorus says battles were stopped — by
the intervention of the bards.
" It was then," says the romancist, " that the prophesying poet of
the pointed words, that guerdon-full good man of song, Fergus
Finnbheoil, rose up, and all the Fenians' men of science along with
him, and they sang their hymns and good poems, and their perfect
lays to those heroes to silence and to soften them. It was then they
ceased from their slaughtering and maiming, on hearing the music
of the poets, and they let their weapons fall to earth, and the poets
took up their weapons and they went between them, and grasped
them with the grasp of reconciliation."
When the palace was cleared out it was found that 1,100 of
Finn's people had been killed between men and women, and
eleven men and fifty women of Goll's party.
Caesar speaks of the numbers who frequented the schools of
the druids in Gaul ; " it is said," he adds, " that they learn
there a great number of verses, and that is why some of those
pupils spend twenty years in learning. It is not, according to
the druids, permissible to entrust verses to writing although
they use the Greek alphabet in all other affairs public and
private." Of this prohibition to commit their verses to paper,
we have no trace, so far as I know, in our literature, but the
accounts of the early bardic schools entirely bear out the
description here given of them by Caesar, and again shows the
solidarity of custom which seems to have existed between the
260 LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
various Celtic tribes. According to our early manuscripts it
took from nine to twelve years for a student to take the
highest degree at the bardic schools, and in many cases where
the pupil failed to master sufficiently the subjects of the year,
he had probably to spend two over it, so that it is quite possible
that some might spend twenty years over their learning. And
much of this learning was, as Caesar notes, in verse. Many
earlier law tracts appear to have been so, and even many of the
earliest romances. There is a very interesting account extant
called the " Proceedings of the Great Bardic Association,"
which leads up to the Epic of the Tain Bo Chuailgne, the
greatest of the Irish romances, according to which this great
tale was at one time lost, and the great Bardic Institution was
commanded to hunt for and recover it. The fact of it being
said that the perfect tale was lost for ever "and that only a
fragmentary and broken form of it would go down to posterity "
perhaps indicates, as has been pointed out by Sullivan, " that
the filling up the gaps in the poem by prose narrative is
meant." In point of fact the tale, as we have it now, consists
half of verse and half of prose. Nor is this peculiar to the
Tain. Most of the oldest and many of the modern tales are
composed in this way. In most cases the verse is of a more
archaic character and more difficult than the prose. In very
many an expanded prose narrative of several pages is followed
by a more condensed poem saying the same thing. So much
did the Irish at last come to look upon it as a matter of course
that every romance should be interspersed with poetry, that
even writers of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries
who consciously invented their stories as a modern novelist
invents his, have interspersed their pieces with passages, in
verse, as did Comyn in his Turlough mac Stairn, as did the
author of the Son of Ill-counsel, the author of the Parliament of
Clan Lopus, the author of the Women's Parliament, and others.
We may take it, then, that in the earliest days the romances
were composed in verse and learned by heart by the students
PAGAN ELEMENT IN IRISH LITER A TURE 261
— possibly before any alphabet was known at all ; afterwards
when lacunae occurred through defective memory on the part
of the reciter he filled up the gaps with prose. Those who
committed to paper our earliest tales wrote down as much of
the old poetry as they could recollect or had access to, and
wrote the connecting narrative in prose. Hence it soon came
to pass that if a story pretended to any antiquity it had to be
interspersed with verses, and at last it happened that the Irish
taste became so confirmed to this style of writing that authors
adopted it, as I have said, even in the seventeenth and eigh-
teenth centuries.
In spite of the mythological and phantastic elements which
are undoubtedly mingled with the oldest sagas,
" the manners and customs in which the men of the time lived
and moved, are depicted," writes Windisch, 1 " with a naive realism
which leaves no room for doubt as to the former actuality of the
scenes depicted. In matter of costume and weapons, eating and
drinking, building and arrangement of the banqueting-hall, manners
observed at the feast, and much more, we find here the most valuable
information." " I insist upon it," he says in another place, " that
Irish saga is the only richly-flowing source of unbroken Celtism."
All the remaining linguistic monuments of Breton, Cornish,
and Welsh, " would form," writes M, d'Arbois de Jubainville,
" un ensemble bien incomplet et bien obscur sans la lumiere que
la litterature irlandaise projette sur ces debris. C'est le vieil irlandais
qui forme le trait d'union pour ainsi dire entre les dialectes neo-
celtiques de la fin du moyen age ou des temps modernes, et le
Gaulois des inscriptions lapidaires, des monnaies, des noms propres
conserves par la litterature grecque et la litterature romaine.'' 2
It may, then, be finally acknowledged that those of the great
nations of to-day, whose ancestors were mostly Celts, but
whose language, literature, and traditions have completely dis-
appeared, must, if they wish to study their own past, turn
1 " Irische Texte," I., p. 252.
2 " Etudes grammaticales sur les langues Celtiques," 1881, p. vii.
262 LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
themselves first to Ireland. When we find so much of the
brief and scanty information given us by the classics, not only
borne out, but amply illustrated by old Irish literature, when
we find the dry bones of Posidonius and Caesar rise up again
before us with a ruddy covering of flesh and blood, it is not
too much to surmise that in other matters also the various
Celtic races bore to each other a close resemblance.
Much more could be said upon this subject, as that the four
Gallo-Roman inscriptions to Brigantia found in Great Britain
are really to the Goddess Brigit; 1 that the Brennus who
burned Rome 390 years before Christ and the Brennus who
stormed Delphi no years later were only the god Brian,
under whose tutelage the Gauls marched ; and that Lugu-
dunum, Lugh's Dun or fortress, is so-called from the god
Lugh the Long-handed, to whom two Celtic inscriptions are
found, one in Spain and one in Switzerland, as may be seen
set forth at length in the volumes of Monsieur d'Arbois de
Jubainville.
1 Sec above pp. 53 and 161.
CHAPTER XXI
THE OLDEST BOOKS AND POEMS
The books of saga, poetry, and annals that have come down to
our day, though so vastly more ancient and numerous than
anything that the rest of Western Europe has to show, are
yet an almost inappreciable fragment of the literature that at
one time existed in Ireland. The great native scholar O'Curry,
who possessed a unique and unrivalled knowledge of Irish
literature in all its forms, has drawn up a list of lost books
which may be supposed to have contained our earliest litera-
ture.
We find the poet Senchan Torpeist — according to the
account in the Book of Leinster, a manuscript which dates
from about the year 1150 — complaining that the only per-
fect record of the great Irish epic, the Tain Bo Chuailgne * or
Cattle-spoil of Cooley, had been taken to the East with the
Cuilmenn, 2 or Great Skin Book. Now Zimmer, who made
a special and minute study of this story, considers that the
earliest redaction of the Tain dates from the seventh century.
1 Pronounced " Taun Bo Hoo-il-n'ya." The "a" in Tain is pronounced
nearly like the "a " in the English word " Tarn."
2 Cuilmenn — it has been remarked, I think, by Kuno Meyer — seems
cognate with Colmmene, glossed nervus, and Welsh czvln:, "a knot or
tie." It is found glossed lebar — i.e., leabhar, or " book."
2G3
264 LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
This legend about Senchan — a real historical poet whose
eulogy in praise of Columcille, whether genuine or not,
was widely popular — is probably equally old, and points to
the early existence of a great skin book in which pagan
tales were written, but which was then lost. The next
great book is the celebrated Saltair of Tara, which is alluded
to in a genuine poem of Cuan O'Lochain about the year
1000, in which he says that Cormac mac Art drew up the
Saltair of Tara. Cormac, being a pagan, could not have
called the book a Saltair or Psalterium, but it may have got the
name in later times from its being in metre. All that this
really proves, however, is that there then existed a book about
the prerogatives of Tara and the provincial kings so old that
Cuan O'Lochain — no doubt following tradition — was not
afraid to ascribe it to Cormac mac Art who lived in the third
century. The next lost book is called the Book of the
Uacongbhail, upon which both the O'Clerys in their Book
of Invasions and Keating in his history drew, and which,
according to O'Curry, still existed at Kildare so late as 1626.
The next book is called the Cin of Drom Snechta. It is
quoted in the Leabhar na h-Uidhre, or "Book of the Dun
Cow" — a MS. of about the year 11 00 — and often in the Book
of Ballymote and by Keating, who in quoting it says, "And
it was before the coming of Patrick to Ireland that that book
existed," * and the Book of Leinster ascribes it to the son
of a king of Connacht who died either in 379 or 499. The
next books of which we find mention were said to have
belonged to St. Longarad, a contemporary of St. Columcille.
The scribe who wrote the glosses on the Feilire of Angus the
Culdee, said that the books existed still in his day, but that
nobody could read them ; for which he accounts by the tale
that Columcille once paid Longarad a visit in order to see his
books, but that his host refused to show them, and that Colum-
cille then said, " May your books be of no use after you, since
1 For the authorship of this book sec above, p. 71.
THE OLDEST BOOKS AND POEMS 265
you have exercised inhospitality about them." On account of
this the books became illegible after Longarad's death. Angus
the Culdee lived about the year 800, but Stokes ascribes the
Feilire to the tenth century ; a view, however, which Mr.
Strachan's studies on the Irish deponent verb, which is of such
frequent occurrence in the Feilire, may perhaps modify. At
what time the scholiast wrote his note on the text is uncertain,
but it also is very old. It is plain, then, that at this time a
number of illegible books — illegible no doubt from age — existed ;
and to account for this illegibility the story of Columcille's
curse was invented. The Annals of Ulster quote another
book at the year 527 under the name of the Book of St.
Mochta, who was a disciple of St. Patrick. They also quote
the Book of Cuana at the year 468 and repeatedly afterwards
down to the year 610, while they record the death of Cuana,
a scribe, at the year 738, after which no more quotations from
Guana's book occur.
The following volumes, almost all of which existed prior to
the year 1100, are also alluded to in our old literature : — The
Book of Dubhdaleithe ; the Yellow Book of Slane ; the original
Leabhar na h-Uidhre, or " Book of the Dun Cow " ; the Books
of Eochaidh O'Flanagain ; a certain volume known as the
book eaten by the poor people in the desert ; the Book of Inis
an Duin ; the short Book of Monasterboice ; the Books of
Flann of Monasterboice ; the Book of Flann of Dungiven ;
the Book of Downpatrick ; the Book of Derry ; the Book of
Sabhal Patrick ; the Black Book of St. Molaga ; the Yellow
Book of St. Moiling ; the Yellow Book of Mac Murrough ;
the Book of Armagh (not the one now so called) ; the Red
Book of Mac Egan ; the Long Book of Leithlin ; the Books
of O'Scoba of Clonmacnois ; the " Duil " of Drom Ceat ; the
Book of Clonsost ; the Book of Cluain Eidhneach (the ivy
meadow) in Leix ; and one of the most valuable and often
quoted of all, Cormac's great Saltair of Cashel, compiled by
I Cormac mac Culinan, who was at once king of Minister
266 LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
and archbishop of Cashel, 1 and who fell in battle in 903,
according to the chronology of the "Four Masters." The
above are certainly only a few of the books in which a large
early literature was contained, one that has now perished
almost to a page. Michael O'Clery, in the Preface to his
Book of Invasions written in 1631, mentions the books
from which he and his four antiquarian friends compiled their
work — mostly now perished ! — and adds : —
" The histories and synchronisms of Erin were written and tested
in the presence of those illustrious saints, as is manifest in the great
books that are named after the saints themselves and from their
great churches ; for there was not an illustrious church in Erin that
had not a great book of history named from it or from the saints who
sanctified it. It would be easy, too, to know from the books which
the saints wrote, and the songs of praise which they composed in
Irish that they themselves and their churches were the centres of
the true knowledge, and the archives and homes of the manuscripts
of the authors of Erin in the elder times. But, alas ! short was the
time until dispersion and decay overtook the churches of the saints,
1 " At what time this book was lost," says O'Curry, " we have no precise
knowledge, but that it existed, though in a dilapidated state, in the year
1454 is evident from the fact that there is in the Bodleian Library at
Oxford (Laud 610) a copy of such portions of it as could be deciphered at
that time, made by Shawn O'Clery for Mac Richard Butler. From the
contents of this copy and from the frequent references to the original for
history and genealogies found in the Books of Ballymote, Lecan, and
others, it must have been an historical and genealogical compilation of
large size and great diversity."
A legible copy of the Saltair appears, however, to have existed at
a much later date. I discovered a curious poem in an uncatalogued MS.
in the Royal Irish Academy by one David Condon, written apparently at
some time between the Cromwellian and Williamite wars, in whicl: he
says —
" Saltair Chaisill is dearbh gur leigheas-sa
Leabhar ghleanna-da-locha gan go ba leir dam,
Leabhar Buidhe Mhuigleann (?) obair aosta," &c.
I.e., " Surely I have read the Saltair of Cashel, and the Book of Glendaloch
was certainly plain to me, and the Yellow Book of Mulling (?) {see above,
p. 210), an ancient work, the Book of Molaga, and the lessons of Cionn-
faola, and many more (books) along with them which are not (now) found
in Ireland."
THE OLDEST BOOKS AND POEMS 267
their relics, and their books ; for there is not to be found of them
now [1631] but a small remnant that has not been carried away into
distant countries and foreign nations — carried away so that their
fate is unknown from that time unto this."
As far as actual existing documents go, we have no speci-
mens of Irish MSS. written in Irish before the eighth century.
The chief remains of the old language that we have are mostly
found on the Continent, whither the Irish carried their books
in great numbers, and unfortunately they are not books of
saga, but chiefly, with the exception of a few poems, glosses
and explanations of books used evidently in the Irish ecclesias-
tical schools. 1 A list of the most remarkable is worth giving
here, as it will help to show the extraordinary geographical
diversity of the Irish settlements upon the Continent, and the
keenness with which their relics have been studied by European
scholars — French, German, and Italian. The most important
are the glosses found in the Irish MSS. of Milan, published
by Ascoli, Zeuss, Stokes, and Nigra ; those in St. Gall — a
monastery in Switzerland founded by St. Gall, an Irish friend
of Columbanus, in the sixth century — published by Ascoli and
Nigra ; those in Wurtzburg, published by Zimmer and Zeuss ;
those in Carlsruhe, published by Zeuss ; those in Turin,
published by Zimmer, Nigra, and Stokes in his " Goidelica " ;
those in Vienna, published by Zimmer in his "Glossae Hibernicae"
and Stokes in his " Goidelica " ; those in Berne, those in Leyden,
those in Nancy, and the glosses on the Cambrai Sermon,
published by Zeuss. 2 Next in antiquity to these are the Irish
parts of the Book of Armagh, the poems in the MSS. of St.
1 Such, for example, is the fragment of a commentary on the Psalter
published by Kuno Meyer in " Hibernica Minora," from Rawlinson, B. 512.
The original is assigned by him, judging from its grammatical forms, to
about the year 750. It is very ample and diffuse, and tells about the
Shophetim, or Sophtim, as the writer calls it, the Didne Haggamim, etc.,
and is an excellent example of the kind of Irish commentaries used by the
early ecclesiastics.
2 " Gram. Celt.," p. 1004-7.
268 LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
Gall and Milan, 1 and some of the pieces published by Windisch
in his " Irische Texte." Next to this is probably the
Martyrology of Angus the Culdee. And then come the
great Middle-Irish books — the Leabhar na h-Uidhre, the Book
of Leinster, and the rest.
From a palneographic point of view the oldest books in
Ireland are probably the " Domhnach Airgid," a copy of the
Four Gospels in a triple shrine of yew, silver-plated copper,
and gold-plated silver, which St. Patrick was believed to have
given to St. Carthainn when he told that saint with a shrewd
wisdom, which in later days aroused the admiration of Mr.
Matthew Arnold, to build himself a church " that should not
be too near to himself for familiarity nor too far from himself
for intercourse." It probably dates from the fifth or sixth
century. The Cathach supposed to have been surreptitiously
written by Columcille from Finnian's book 2 — a Latin copy of
the Gospels in Trinity College, Dublin ; the Book of Durrow,
a beautiful illuminated copy of the same ; the Book of Dim-
ma, containing the Four Gospels, ritual, and prayers, probably
a work of the seventh century ; the Book of Moiling, ot
probably about the same date ; the Gospels of Mac Regol,
the largest of the Old Irish Gospel books, highly but not
elegantly coloured, with an interlinear Anglo-Saxon version
in a late hand carried through its pages ; the Book of Kells,
the unapproachable glory of Irish illumination, and some other
ecclesiastical books. After them come the Leabhar na
h-Uidre and the great books of poems and saga.
Although the language of these sagas and poems is not that
of the glosses, but what is called " Middle-Irish," still it does
not in the least follow that the poems and sagas belong to the
Middle-Irish period. " The old Middle-Irish manuscripts,"
says Zimmer, " contain for the most part only Old Irish texts
re-written." 3 " Unfortunately," says Windisch, " every new
1 Published by Zeuss in his " Gramrnatica Celtica."
2 Sec above, p. 175. 3 << Kcltische Studicn," Heft i. p. 88.
THE OLDEST BOOKS AND POEMS 269
copyist has given to the text more or less of the linguistic garb
of his own day, so that as far as the language of Irish texts goes,
it depends principally upon the age of the manuscript that con-
tains them." 1 And again, in his preface to Adamnan's vision, he
writes : " Since we know that Irish texts were rewritten by
every fresh copyist more or less regularly in the speech of his
own day, the real age or a prose text cannot possibly be
determined by the linguistic forms of its language." 2 It is
much easier to tell the age of poetry than prose, for the
gradual modification of language, altering of words, shortening
of inflexions, and so on, must interfere with the metre, so that
when we find a poem in a twelfth-century manuscript written
in Middle Irish and in a perfect metrical form, we may — no
matter to what age it is ascribed — be pretty sure that it cannot
be more than two or three centuries older than the manuscript
that contains it. Yet even of the poems Dr. Atkinson
writes : "The poem may be of the eighth century, but the
forms are in the main of the twelfth." 3 Where poems that
really are of ancient date have had their language modified
in transcription so as to render them intelligible, the metre is
bound to suffer, and this lends us a criterion whereby to gauge
the age of verse, which is lacking to us when we come to deal
with prose.
This modification of language is not uncommon in literature
and takes place naturally, but I doubt if there ever was a
literature in which it played the same important part as in
Irish. Thus let us take the story of the Tain Bo Chuailgne,
of which I shall have more to say later on. Zimmer, after
long and careful study of the text as preserved to us in a manu-
script of about the year 1100, came to the conclusion from the
murks of Old Irish inflexion, and so forth, which still remain in
the eleventh-century text, that there had been two recensions of
Preface to Loinges Mac n-Usnig, " Irische Texte," i. 61.
2 " Irische Texte," i. p. 167.
3 Preface to the list of contents of the facsimile Book of Leinster.
270 LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
the story, a pie-Danish, that is, say, a seventh-century one,
ami a post-Danish, that is a tenth- or eleventh-century one.
Thus the epic may have been originally committed to paper in
the seventh century, modified in the tenth, transcribed into
the manuscripts in which we have it in the eleventh and twelfth,
and propagated from that down to the eighteenth century, in
copies every one of which underwent more or less alteration
in order to render it more intelligible ; and it was in fact in
an eighteenth-century manuscript, yet one that differed, as I
subsequently discovered, in few essentials from the copy in the
Book of Leinster that I first read it. As the bards lived to
please so they had to please to live. The popular mind only
receives with pleasure and transmits with readiness popular
poetry upon the condition that it is intelligible, 1 and hence
granting that Finn mac Cool was a real historical personage, it
is perfectly possible that some of his poetry was handed down
from generation to generation amongst the conservative Gael,
and slightly altered or modified from time to time to make it
more intelligible, according as words died out and inflexions be-
came obsolete. The Oriental philologist, Max Miiller, in
attempting to explain how myths arose (according to his theory)
from a disease of language, thinks that during the transition
period of which he speaks, there would be many words "under-
stood perhaps by the grandfather, familiar to the father, but
strange to the son, and misunderstood by the grandson." This
is exactly what is taking place over half Ireland at this very
moment, and it is what has always been at work amongst a
people whose language and literature go back with certainty for
nearly 1,500 years. Accordingly before the art of writing
became common, ere yet expensive vellum MSS. and a highly-
1 With the exception of the ancient Irish prayers like Mairinn Phadraig,
preserved by tradition, which are for the most part not intelligible to the
reciters, but which owe their preservation to the promise usually tacked on
at the end that the reciters shall receive some miraculous or heavenly
blessing. See my " Religious Songs of Connacht."
THE OLDEST BOOKS AND POEMS 2/1
paid class of historians and schools of scribes to a certain extent
stereotyped what they set down, it is altogether probable that
people who trusted to the ear and to memory, modified and
corrupted but still handed down, at least some famous poems,
like those ascribed to Amergin or Finn mac Cool. That the
Celtic memory for things unwritten is long I have often
proved. I have heard from peasants stanzas composed by
Donogha Mor O'Daly, of Boyle, in the thirteenth cen-
tury ; I have recovered from an illiterate peasant, in 1890 in
Roscommon, verses which had been jotted down in phonetic
spelling in Argyleshire by Macgregor, Dean of Lismore, in
the year 15 12, and which may have been sung for hundreds
of years before it struck the fancy of the Highland divine to
commit them to paper ; x and I have again heard verses in
which the measure and sense were preserved, but found on
comparing them with MSS. that several obsolete words had
been altered to others that rhymed with them and were
intelligible. 2 For these reasons I should, in many cases,
refuse absolutely to reject the authenticity of a poem
simply because the language is more modern than that ot
the bard could have been to whom it is ascribed, and it
seems to me equally uncritical either to accept or reject
much of our earliest poetry, except what is in highly-
developed metre, as a good deal of it may possibly be the
actual (but linguistically modified) work of the supposed
authors.
This modifying process is something akin to but very
different in degree from Pope's rewriting of Donne's satires
or Dryden's version of Chaucer, inasmuch as it was probably
both unconscious and unintentional. To understand better
how this modification may have taken place, let us examine a
1 See my note on the Story of Oscar au fleau, in " Revue Celtiquc,"
vol. xiii. p. 425.
2 Cf. my note on Bran's colour, at p. 277 of my " Beside the
Fire."
272 LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
few lines of the thirteenth-century English poem, the " Brut"
of Laviimon : —
" And swa ich habbe al niht
Of mine swevene swithe ithoht,
For ich what to iwisse
Agan is al my blisse."
These lines were, no doubt, intelligible to an ordinary English-
man at the time. Gradually they become a little modernised,
thus : —
" And so I have all night
Of min-e sweeven swith ythought,
For I wat to ywiss
Agone is all my bliss."
Had these verses been preserved in folk-memory they must
have undergone a still further modification as soon as the words
sweeven (dream), swith (much), and ywiss (certainty) began
to grow obsolete, and we should have the verse modified and
mangled, perhaps something in this way : —
" And so I have all the night
Of my dream, greatly thought,
For I wot and I wis
That gone is all my bliss."
The words "I wot and I wis," in the third line, represent
just about as much archaism as the popular memory and taste
will stand without rebelling. Some modification in the direc-
tion here hinted at may be found in, I should think, more than
half the manuscripts in the Royal Irish Academy to-day, and
just in the same sense as the lines,
" For I wot and I wis
That gone is my bliss,"
are Layamon's ; so we may suppose,
" Dubthach missi mac do Lugaid
Laidech lantrait
THE OLDEST BOOKS AND POEMS 273
Me rue inmbreith etir Loegaire
Ocus Patraic," x
to be the fifth century O'Lugair's, or
" Leathaid folt fada fraich,
Forbrid canach fanu finn," 2
to be Finn mac Cumhail's.
Of the many poems — as distinguished from sagas, which are
a mixture of poetry and prose — said to have been produced
from pagan times down to the eighth century, none can be
properly called epics or even epopees. There are few continued
efforts, and the majority of the pieces though interesting for
a great many reasons to students, would hardly interest an
English reader when translated. Unfortunately, such a great
amount of our early literature being lost, we can only judge of
what it was like through the shorter pieces which have been
preserved, and even these short pieces read rather jejune and
barren in English, partly because of the great condensation of
the original, a condensation which was largely brought about
by the necessity of versification in difficult metres. In order
to see beautv in the most ancient Irish verse it is absolutely
necessary to read it in the original so as to perceive and appreciate
the alliteration and other tours de force which appear in everv
line. These verses, for instance, which Meve, daughter or
Conan, is said to have pronounced over Cuchorb, her hus-
1 In more modern Irish : —
" Dubhlhach mise, mac do Lughaidh
Laoi-each lan-traith
Me rug an bhreith idir Laoghaire
Agus Padraig."
/.<•., " I am Dubhthaeh, son of Lewy the lay-full, full-wise. It is I who
delivered judgment between Leary and Patrick." Traith is the only obso-
lete word here.
2 In modern Irish, " Leathnuighidh folt fada fraoch," i.e., "Leathnuighidh
fraoch folt fada, foirbridh (fasaidh) canach (ceannabhan) fann fionn," i,c,\
''Spreads heath its long hair, flourishes the feeble, (air cotton-grass,"
s
\-| LITERARY 11] STORY OF IRELAND
band, in the first century, appear bald enough in a literal
translation : —
" Moghcorb's son whom fame conceals [covers]
Well sheds he blood by his spears,
A stone over his grave —'tis a pity —
Who carried battle over Cliu Mail.
My noble king, he spoke not falsehood,
His success was certain in every danger,
As black as a raven was his brow,
As sharp was his spear as a razor," etc.
One might read this kind of thing for ever in a translation
without being struck by anything more than some occasional
curiosa fellcitas of phrase or picturesque expression, and one
would never suspect that the original was so polished and com-
plicated as it really is. Here are these two verses done into
the exact versification of the original, in which interlinear
vowel-rhymes, alliterations, and all the other requirements of
the Irish are preserved and marked : —
" Mochorb's son of Fiercest Fame,
Kxown his Name for bloody toil,
To his Gory Grave is Gone,
He who Shone o'er SHouting Moyle.
Kindly King, who Liked not Lies,
Rash to Rise to Fields of Fame,
Raven-Black his Brows of fear,
Razor-Sharp his Spear of flame," etc. 1
This specimen of Irish metre may help to place much of oui
poetry in another light, for its beauty depends less upon the
intrinsic substance of the thought than the external elegance
1 Here is the first verse of this in the original. The Old Irish is nearly
unintelligible to a modern. I have here modernised the spelling : —
"Mac Mogachoirb Cheileas Clu
Cun fearas Cru thar a ghaibh
Ail uas a Ligi — budh Liach —
Baslaide Chliath thar Cliu Mail."
The rhyming words do not make perfect rhyme as in English, but pretty
nearly so — clu cm, liath cliath, gdibh mail.
THE 0LDES1 BOOKS AND POEMS 2/5
of the framework. We must understand this in order to do-
justice to our versified literature, for the student must not
imagine that he will find long-sustained epics or interesting
narrative poems after the manner of the Iliad or Odyssey,
or even the Nibelungenlied, or the " Song of Roland ;" none
such now exist : if they did exist they are lost. The early poems
consist rather of eulogies, elegies, historical pieces, and lyrics,
few of them of any great length, and still fewer capable of
interesting an English reader in a translation. Occasionally we
meet with touches of nature poetry of which the Gael has
always been supremely fond. Here is a tentative translation
made by O'Donovan of a part of the first poem which Finn
mac Cumhail is said to have composed after his eating of
the salmon of knowledge : —
" May-Day, delightful time! How beautiful the colour; the
blackbirds sing their full lay ; would that Laighaig were here ! The
cuckoos sing in constant strains. How welcome is ever the noble
brilliance of the seasons ! On the margin of the branching woods
the summer swallows skim the stream. The swift horses seek the
pool. The heath spreads out its long hair, the weak, fair bog-down
grows. Sudden consternation attacks the signs, the planets, in their
courses running, exert an influence ; the sea is lulled to rest, flowers
cover the earth."
The language of this poem is so old as to be in parts unin-
telligible, and the broken metre points to the difficulties of
transmission over a long period of time, yet he would be a bold
man who would ascribe with certainty the authorship of it to
Finn mac Cumhail in the third century, or the elegy on Cuchorb
to Meve, daughter of Conan, a contemporary of Virgil and
Horace. And yet all the history of these people is known
and recorded with much apparent plausibility and many
collateral circumstances connecting them with the men of
their time. How much of this is genuine historical tradition ?
How much is later invention ? It is difficult to decide at
present.
CHAPTER XXII
EARLY SAGA AND ROMANCE
During the golden period of the Greek and Roman genius
no one ever wrote a romance. Epics they left behind
them, and history, but the romance, the Danish saga, the
Irish sgeul or ursgeul was unknown. It was in time of
decadence that a body of Greek prose romance appeared,
and with the exception of Petronius' semi-prose " Satyri-
con," and Apuleius' " Golden Ass," the Latin language pro-
duced in this line little of a higher character than such works
as the Gesta Romanorum. In Greece and Italv where the
genial climate favoured all kinds of open-air representations,
the great development of the drama took the place of novelistic
literature, as it did for a long time amongst the English after
the Elizabethan revival. In Ireland, on the other hand, the
dramatic stage was never reached at all, but the development
of the ursgeul, romance, or novel, was quite abnormally great.
I have seen it more than once asserted, if I mistake not, that
the dramatic is an inevitable and an early development in the
history of every literature, but this is to generalise from insuf-
ficient instances. The Irish literature which kept on develop-
ing — to some extent at least — for over a thousand years, and of
which hundreds of volumes still exist, never evolved a drama, nor
so much, as far as I know, as even a miracle play, although
these are found in Welsh and even Cornish, What Ireland
276
EARLY SAGA AND ROMANCE 277
did produce, and produce nobly and well, was romance ; from
the first to the last, from the seventh to the seventeenth
century, Irishmen, without distinction of class, alike delighted
in the ursgeul.
When this form of literature first came into vogue we have no
means of ascertaining, but the narrative prose probably developed
at a very early period as a supplement to defective narrative
verse. Not that verse or prose were then and there committed
to writing, for it is said that the business of the bards was to
learn their stories by heart. I take it, however, that they did
not actually do this, but merely learned the incidents of a story
in their regular sequence, and that their training enabled them
to fill these up and clothe them on the spur of the moment in
the most effective garments, decking them out with passages
of gaudy description, with rattling alliterative lines and "runs"
and abundance of adjectival declamation. The bards, no
matter from what quarter of the island, had all to know the
same story or novel, provided it was a renowned one, but with
each the sequence of incidents, and the incidents themselves
were probably for a long time the same ; but the language in
which they were tricked out and the length to which they
were spun depended probably upon the genius or bent of each
particular bard. Of course in process of time divergences
began to arise, and hence different versions of the same story.
That, at least, is how I account for such passages as (C but others
say that it was not there he was killed, but in," etc., " but some
of the books say that it was not on this wise it happened, but,"
and so on.
It is probable that very many novels were in existence before
the coming of St. Patrick, but highly unlikely that they were
at that time written down at full length. It was probably only
after the country had become Christianised and full of schools
and learning that the bards experienced the desire of writing
down their sagas, with as much as they could recapture of the
ancient poetry upon which they were built. In the Book of
278 LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
Leinster, a manuscript of the twelfth century, we find an
extraordinary list of no less than 187 of those romances with
three hundred and FiFrv of which an ollamh had to be
acquainted. The ollamh was the highest dignitary amongst
the bards, and it took him from nine to twelve years' training
to learn the two hundred and fifty prime stories and the one
hundred secondary ones along with the other things which
were required of him. The prime stories— combinations of
epic and novel, prose and poetry — are divided in the manu-
scripts into the following romantic catalogue : — Destruc-
tions of fortified places, Cow spoils (i.e., cattle-raiding
expeditions), Courtships or wooings, Battles, Cave-stories,
Navigations, Tragical deaths, Feasts, Sieges, Adventures,
Elopements, Slaughters, Water-eruptions, Expeditions, Pro-
gresses, and Visions. " He is no poet," says the Book of
Leinster, " who does not synchronise and harmonise all the
stories." We possess, as I have said, the names of 187 such
stories in the Book of Leinster, and the names of many more
are given in the tenth- or eleventh-century tale of Mac
Coise ; and all the known ones, with the exception of one tale
added later on, and one which, evidently through an error in
transcription, refers to Arthur instead of Aithirne, are about
events prior to the year 650 or thereabouts. We may take it,
then, that this list was drawn up in the seventh century.
Now, who were the authors of these couple of hundred
romances ? It is a natural question, but one which cannot be
answered. There is not a trace of their authorship remaining,
if authorship be the right word for what I suspect to have been
the gradual growth of race, tribal, and family history, and of
Celtic mythology, told and retold, and polished up, and added
to ; some of them, especially such as are the descendants of a
pagan mythology, must have been handed down for perhaps
countless generations, others recounted historical, tribal, or
family doings, magnified during the course of time, others again
of more recent date, are perhaps fairly accurate accounts of actual
EARLY SAGA AND ROMANCE 279
events, but all prior to about the year 650. I take it that
so soon as bardic schools and colleges began to be formed, there
was no class of learning more popular than that which taught
the great traditionary stories of the various tribes and families
of the great Gaelic race, and the intercommunication between
the bardic colleges propagated local tradition throughout all
Ireland.
The very essence of the national life of Erin was embodied
in these stories, but, unfortunately, few out of the enormous
mass have survived to our day, and these mostly mutilated or
in mere digests. Some, however, exist at nearly full length,
quite sufficient to show us what the romances were like, and
to cause us to regret the irreparable loss inflicted upon our race
by the ravages of Danes, Normans, and English. Even as it
is O'Curry asserts that the contents of the strictly historical
tales known to him would be sufficient to fill up four thousand
of the large pages of the " Four Masters." He computed that
the tales about Finn, Ossian, and the Fenians alone would fill
another three thousand pages. In addition to these we have a
considerable number of imaginative stories, neither historical nor
Fenian, such as the cc Three Sorrows of Story-telling " and
the like, sufficient to fill five thousand pages more, not to speak
of the more recent novel-like productions of the later Irisii. 1
It is this very great fecundity of the very early Irish in the
production of saga and romance, in poetry and prose, which
best enables us to judge of their early-developed genius, and
considerable primitive culture. The introduction of Chris-
tianity neither inspired these romances nor helped to produce
them ; they are nearly all anterior to it, and had they been
preserved to us we should now have the most remarkable body
of primitive myth and saga in the whole western world. It is
probably this consideration which makes M. Darmesteter say
1 O'Curry was no doubt accurate, as he ever is, in this computation, but
there would probably be some repetition in the stones, with lists of names
and openings common to more than one, and many late poor ones.
280 LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
of Irish literature : " real historical documents we have none
until the beginning of the decadence — a decadence so glorious,
that we almost mistake it for a renaissance since the old epic
sap dries up only to make place for a new budding and
bourgeoning, a growth less original certainly, but scarcely less
wonderful if we consider the condition of continental Europe
at that date." The decadence that M. Darmesteter alludes to
is the rise of the Christian schools of the fifth and sixth
centuries, which put to some extent an end to the epic period
by turning men's thoughts into a different channel.
It is this " decadence," however, which I have preferred to
examine first, just because it does rest upon real historical
documents, and can be proved. We may now, however,
proceed to the mass of saga, the bulk of which in its earliest
forms is pagan, and the spirit of which, even in the latest
texts, has been seldom quite distorted by Christian influence.
This saga centres around several periods and individuals : some
of these, like Tuathal and the Boru tribute, Conaire the
Great and his death, have only one or two stories pertaining to
them. But there are three cycles which stand out pre-
eminently, and have been celebrated in more stories and sagas
than the rest, and of which more remains have been preserved
to us than of any of the others. These are the Mythological
Cycle concerning the Tuatha De Danann and the Pre-
Milesians ; the Heroic, Ultonian, or Red-Branch Cycle, 1 in
which Cuchulain is the dominating figure; and the Cycle of
Finn mac Cumhail, Ossian, Oscar, and the High-kings of
Ireland who were their contemporaries — this cycle may be
denominated the Fenian or Ossianic.
1 M. d'Arbois de Jubainville calls this the Ulster, and calls the Ossianic
the Lcinster Cycle.
CHAPTER XXIII
THE MYTHOLOGICAL CYCLE
The cycle of the mythological stories which group themselves
round the early invasions of Erin is sparsely represented in
Irish manuscripts. Not only is their number less, but their
substance is more confused than that of the other cycles. To
the comparative mythologist and the folk-lorist, however, they
are perhaps the most interesting of all, as throwing more light
than any of the others upon the early religious ideas of the
race. Most of the sagas connected with this pre-Milesian
cycle are now to be found only in brief digests preserved
in the Leabhar Gabhala, 1 or Book of Invasions of Ireland, of
which large fragments exist in the Books of Leinster and
Ballymote, and which Michael O'Clery (collecting from all
the ancient sources which he could find in his day) rewrote
about the year 1630.
This tells us all the early history of Ireland and of the races
that inhabited it before our forefathers landed. It tells us of
how first a man called Partholan made a settlement in Ireland
but how in time he and his people all died of the plague
leaving the land deserted ; and how after that the Nemedians
or children of Ncmed, colonised the island and multiplied in it
1 " L'yowar (rhyming to hour) govv-awla," the '' book of the takings o
holdings of Ireland." .
281
282 LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
until they began to be oppressed by the Foouo nans, who are
usually described as African sea-robbers, but the etymology Oi
whose name seems to point to a mythological origin " men
from under sea." x A number of battles took place between the
rival hosts, and the Fomorians were defeated in three battles,
but after the death of Nemed, who, like Partholan, died of a
plague, the Fomorians oppressed his people again, and, led by
a chief called Conaing, built a great tower upon Tory, i.e.,
Tower Island, off the north-west coast of Donegal. On the
eve of every Samhain [Sou-an, or All Hallow's] the wretched
Nemediansj had to deliver up to these masters two-thirds of
their children, corn, and cattle. Driven to desperation by these
exactions they rose in arms, stormed the tower, and slew
Conaing, all which the Bojok^f-- Invasions describes at length.
The Fomorians being reinforced, the Nemedians fought
them a second time in the same place, but in this battle most
of them were killed or drowned, the tide having come in and
washed over them and their foes alike. The crew of one ship,
however, escaped, and these, after a further sojourn of seven
years in Ireland, led out of it the surviving remnants of their
race with the exception of a very few who remained behind
subject to the Fomorians. Those who left Ireland divided
into three bands : one sought refuge in Greece, where they
again fell into slavery ; the second went — some say — to the
north of Europe ; and the third, headed by a chief called
Briton Mael — hence, say the Irish, the name of Great Britain
— found refuge in Scotland, where their descendants remained
until the Cruithni, or Picts, overcame them.
After a couple of hundred years the Nemedians who had
fled to Greece came back again, calling themselves Fir-
bolg, 2 i.e., u sack " or " bag " men, and held Ireland for
1 Keating derives it from foghla, "spoil," and muir, "sea," which is an
impossible derivation, or from jo muirib, as if " along the seas," but it really j
means " under seas."
2 Also Fir Domnan and Fir Galeoin, two tribes of the same race.
THE MYTHOLOGICAL CYCLE 283
about thirty-five years in peace, when another tribe of invaders
appeared upon the scene. These were no less than the cele-
brated Tuatha De Danann, who turned out to be, in fact,
the descendants of the second band of Nemedians who had
fled to the north of Europe, and who returned about thirty-six
years later than their kinsmen, the Firbolg.
The Tuatha De Danann soon overcame the Firbolg, and
drove them, after the Battle of North Moytura, 1 into the
islands along the coast, to Aran, Islay, Rachlin, and the
Hebrides, 2 after which they assumed the sovereignty of the
island to themselves.
This sovereignty they maintained for about two hundred
1 When the oldest list of current Irish sagas was drawn up, probably in
the seventh century, only one battle of Moytura was mentioned ; this was
evidently what is now known as the second battle. In the more recent list
contained in the introduction to the Senchus Mor there is mention made of
both battles. There is only a single copy of each of these sagas known to
exist. Of most of the other sagas of this cycle even the last copy has
perished.
2 Long afterwards, at the time that Ireland was divided into five pro-
vinces, the Cruithnigh, or Picts, drove the Firbolg out of the islands again,
and they were forced to come back to Cairbre Niafer, king of Leinster,
who allotted them a territory, but placed such a rack-rent upon them that
they were glad to fly into Connacht, where Oilioll and Meve — the king
and queen who made the Tain Bo Chuailgne — gave them a free grant of
land, and there Uuald Mac Firbis, over two hundred and fifty years ago,
found their descendants in plenty. According to some accounts, they were
never driven wholly out of Connacht, and if they are a real race — as,
despite their connection with the obviously mythical Tuatha De Danann,
they appear to be — they probably still form the basis of population there.
Maine Mor, the ancestor of the O'Kellys, is said to have wrested from them
the territory of Ui Maine (part of Roscommon and Galway) in the sixth
century. Their name and that of their fellow tribe, the Fir Domnan,
appear to be the same as the Belgoe, and the Damnonii of Gaul and
Britain, who are said to have given its name to Devonshire. Despite their
close connection in the Book of Invasions and early history of Ireland, the
Firbolg stand on a completely different footing from the De Danann
tribes. Their history is recorded consecutively from that day to this ;
many families trace their pedigree to them, and they never wholly dis-
appeared. No family traces its connection to the De Danann people ;
they wholly disappear, and are in later times regarded as gods, or demons,
Or fairies.
284 LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
years, until the ancestors of the present Irish, the Scots, or Gaels,
or Milesians, as they are variously called, landed and beat the
Tuatha De Danann, and reigned in their stead until they, too,
in their turn were conquered by the English. The Book of
Conquests is largely concerned with their landing and first
settlements and their battles with the De Danann people
whom they ended in completely overcoming, after which the
Tuatha De assume a very obscure position. They appear to
have for the most part retired off the surface of the country
into the preen hills and mounds, and lived in these, often
... .
appearing amongst the Milesian population, and sometimes
giving their daughters in marriage to them. From this out
they are confounded with the Sidhe [Shee], or spirits, now called
fairies, and to this very day I have heard old men, when
speaking of the fairies who inhabit ancient raths and interfere
occasionally in mortal concerns either for good or evil, call
them by the name of the Tuatha De Danann.
The first battle of Moytura was fought between the Tuatha
De Danann and the Firbolg, who were utterly routed, but i
Nuada, the king of the Tuatha De, lost his hand in the
battle. As he was thus suffering from a personal blemish, he
could be no longer king, and the people accordingly decided
to bestow the sovereignty on Breas [Bras], z whose mother was
a De Danann, but whose father was a king of the Fomorians,
a people who had apparently never lost sight of or wholly left
Ireland since the time of their battles with the Nemedians '
over two hundred years before. The mother of Breas, Eiriu, 2
was a person of authority, and her son was elected to the
sovereignty on the understanding that if his reign was found
unsatisfactory he should resign. He gave seven pledges of his
intention of doing so. At this time the Fomorians again
1 Bress in the older form.
2 When the Milesians landed they found a Tuatha De Danann queen,
called Eiriu, the old form of Eire or Erin, from whom the island was
believed to take its name. John Scotus is called in old authorities Eriu
gena, not Erigena.
THE MYTHOLOGICAL CYCLE 285
smote Ireland heavily with their imposts and taxes, as they had
done before when the Nemedians inhabited it. The unfortu-
nate De Dannan people were reduced to a state of misery.
02;ma z was obliged to carry wood, and the Dagda himself to
build raths for their masters, and they were so far reduced as
to be weak with hunger.
In the meantime the kingship of Breas was not successful.
He was hard and niggardly. As the saga of the second battle
of Moytura puts it —
" The chiefs of the Tuatha De Danann were dissatisfied, for Breas
did not grease their knives ; in vain came they to visit Breas ; their
breaths did not smell of ale. Neither their poets, nor bards, nor
druids, nor harpers, nor flute-players, nor musicians, nor jugglers,
nor fools appeared before them, nor came into the palace to amuse
them."
Matters reached a crisis when the poet Coirpne came to
demand hospitality and was shown "into a little house, small,
narrow, black, dark, where was neither fire nor furniture nor
bed. He was given three little dry loaves on a little plate.
When he rose in the morning he was not thankful." He
gave vent then to the first satire ever uttered in Ireland, which
is still preserved in eight lines which would be absolutely
unintelligible except for the ancient glosses.
After this the people of the De Danann race demanded the
abdication of Breas, which he had promised in case his reign did
not please them. He acknowledged his obligation to them, but
requested a delay of seven years, which they allowed him, on
condition that he gave them guarantees to touch nothing
belonging to them during that time, u neither our houses nor
our lands, nor our gold, nor our silver, nor our cattle, nor
anything eatable, we shall pay thee neither rent nor fine to the
end of seven years." This was agreed to.
But the intention of Breas in demanding a delay of seven
years was a treacherous one ; he meant to approach his father's
1 For him see above, pp. 113-15.
236 LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
kindred the Fomprians, and move them to reinstate him at the
point of the sword. He goes to his mother who tells him
who his father is, for up to that time he had remained in
ignorance of it ; and she gives him a ring whereby his father
Flatha, a king of the Fomorians, may recognise him. He
departs to the Fomorians, discovers his father and appeals to
him for succour. By his father he is sent to Balor, a king of
the Fomorians of the Isles of Norway — a locality probably
ascribed to the Fomorians after the invasions of the North-
men — and there gathered together an immense army to subdue
the Tuatha De Danann and give the island to their relation
Breas.
In the meantime Nuada, whose hand had been replaced by
a silver one, reascends the throne and is joined by Lugh of the
Long-hand, the " Ildana" or "man of various arts." This Lugh
was a brother of the Dagda and of Ogma, and is perhaps the
best-known figure among the De Danann personalities. Lugh
and the Dagda and Ogma and Goibniu the smith and Dian-
cecht the leech met secretly every day at a place in Meath for
a whole year, and deliberated how best to shake off the yoke
of the Fomorians. Then they held a general meeting of the
Tuatha De and spoke with each one in secret.
" ' How wilt thou show thy power? 5 said Lugh, to the sorcerer
Mathgcn.
" ' By my art,' answered Mathgen, ' I shall throw down the moun-
tains of Ireland upon the Fomorians, and they shall fall with their
heads to the earth ; ' then told he to Lugh the names of the twelve
principal mountains of Ireland which were ready to do the bidding
of the goddess Dana 1 and to smite their enemies on every side.
1 Jubainville translates Tuatha De Danann by "tribes of the goddess
Dana.'' Danann is the genitive of Dana, and Dana is called the "mother
oi the gods," but she is not a mother of the bulk of the De Danann
race, so that Jubainville's translation is a rather venturesome one, and
the Old Irish themselves did not take the word in this meaning; they
explained it as "the men of science who were as it were gods." "Tuatha
de Danann, i.e., Dee in taes dana acus ande an taes trcbtha," i.e., "the nun
of science were (as it were) gods and the laymen no-gods."
THE MYTHOLOGICAL CYCLE 28;
" Lugh asked the cup-bearer : ' In what way wilt thou show thy
power ? '
" ' I shall place,' answered the cup-bearer, ' the twelve principal
lakes of Ireland under the eyes of the Fomorians, but they shall find
no water in them, however great the thirst which they may feel ; '
and he enumerated the lakes, ' from the Fomorians the water shall
hide itself, they shall not be able to take a drop of it ; but the same
lakes will furnish the Tuatha De Danann with water to drink during
the whole war, though it should last seven years.'
" The Druid Figal, the son of Mamos, said, ' I shall make three
rains of fire fall on the faces of the Fomorian warriors; I shall take
from them two-thirds of their valour and courage, but so often as
the warriors of the De Danann shall breathe out the air from their
breasts, so often shall they feel their courage and valour and strength
increase. Even though the war should last seven years it shall not
fatigue them.'
" The Dagda answered, ' All the feats which you three, sorcerer,
cup-bearer, druid, say you can do, I myself alone shall do them.'
" ' It is you then are the Dagda,' 1 said those present, whence came
the name of the Dagda which he afterwards bore."
Lugh then went in search of the three gods of Dana —
Brian, Iuchar, and Iucharba (whom he afterwards put to
death for slaying his father, as is recorded at length in the
saga of the " Fate of the Children of Tuireann " 2 ) and
with these and his other allies he spent the next seven years
in making preparations for the great struggle with the
Fomorians.
This saga and the whole story of the Tuatha De Danann
contending with the Fomorians, who are in one place in the
saga actually called sidhe y or spirits, is all obviously mytho-
logical, and has usually been explained, by D'Arbois de Jubain-
ville and others, as the struggle between the gods or good
spirits and the evil deities.
1 Whitley Stokes translates this by "good hand." It is explained
as— Dago-dcvo-s, " the good god." The "Dagda, i.e., daigh de, i.e., dea
sainemail ag na geinntib e," i.e., " Dagda ie ignis Dei," for " with the
heathen he was a special god," MS. 16, Advocates' Library, Edinburgh.
2 Paraphrased by me in English verse in the "Three Sorrows of
Story-telling."
283 LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
The following episode also shows the wild mythological
character of the whole.
■• Dagda," says the saga, "had a habitation at Glenn-Etin in the north,
He had arranged to meet a woman at Glenn-Etin on the day of
Samhan [November day] just a year, day for day, before the battle
of Moytura. The Unius, a river of Connacht, flows close beside
Glenn-Etin, to the south. Dagda saw the woman bathe herself in the
Unius at [Kesh] Coran. One of the woman's feet in the water
touched Alloc! Eche, that is to say Echumech to the south, the
other foot also in the water touched Lescuin in the north. Nine
tresses floated loose around her head. Dagda approached and
accosted her. From thenceforth the place has been named the
Couple's Bed. The woman was the goddess Mor-rigu" —
the goddess of war, of whom we shall hear more in connection
with Cuchulain.
As for the Dagda himself, his character appears somewhat
contradictory. Just as the most opposite accounts of Zeus are
met with in Greek mythology, some glorifying him as thron-
ing in Olympus supreme over gods and men, others as playing
low and indecent tricks disguised as a cuckoo or a bull ; so we
find the Dagda — his real name was Eochaidh the Ollamh
— at one time a king of the De Danann race and organiser
of victory, but at another in a less dignified but more clearly
mythological position. He is sent by Lugh to the Fomorian
camp to put them off with talk and cause them to lose time
until the De Danann armaments should be more fully ready.
The following account exhibits him, like Zeus at times, in a
very unprepossessing character : —
" When the Dagda had come to the camp of the Fomorians he
demanded a truce, and he obtained it. The Fomorians prepared
a porridge for him ; it was to ridicule him they did this, for he
greatly loved porridge. They filled for him the king's cauldron
which was five handbreadths in depth. They threw into it eighty
pots of milk and a proportionate quantity of meal and fat, with goats
and sheep and swine which they got cooked along with the rest.
Then they poured the broth into a hole dug in the ground. ' Unless
you cat all that's there,' said Indcch to him, 'you shall be put to
THE MYTHOLOGICAL CYCLE 289
death ; we do not want you to be reproaching us, and we must
satisfy you.' The Dagda took the spoon ; it was so great that in the
hollow of it a man and a woman might be contained. The pieces
that went into that spoon were halves of salted pigs and quarters of
bacon. The Dagda said, ' Here is good eating, if the broth be as
good as its odour,' and as he carried the spoonful to his mouth, he
said, ' The proverb is true that good cooking is not spoiled by a
bad pot.' x
" When he had finished he scraped the ground with his finger to
the very bottom of the hole to take what remained of it, and after
that he went to sleep to digest his soup. His stomach was greater
than the greatest cauldrons in large houses, and the Fomorians
mocked at him.
" He went away and came to the bank of the Eba. He did not
walk with ease, so large was his stomach. He was dressed in very
bad guise. He had a cape which scarcely reached below his
shoulders. Beneath that cloak was seen a brown mantle which
descended no lower than his hips. It was cut away above and very
large in the breast. His two shoes were of horses' skin with the
hair outside. He held a wheeled fork, which would have been
heavy enough for eight men, and he let it trail behind him. It dug
a furrow deep enough and large enough to become the frontier
mearn between two provinces. Therefore is it called the ' track of
the Dagda's club.' "
When the fighting began, after the skirmishing of the first
days, the De Danann warriors owed their victory to their
superior preparations. The great leech Diancecht cured the
wounded, and the smith Goibniu and his assistants kept the
warriors supplied with constant relays of fresh lances. The
Fomorians could not understand it, and sent one of their
warriors, apparently in disguise, to find out. He was Ruadan,
a son of fireas by a daughter of Dagda.
"On his return he told the Fomorians what the smith, the carpenter,
the worker in bronze, and the four leeches who were round the
spring, did. They sent him back again with orders to kill the smith
Goibniu. He asked a spear of Goibniu, rivets of Credne the bronze-
worker, a shaft of Luchtaine the carpenter, and they gave him
what he asked. There was a woman there busy in sharpening the
1 Thus perilously translated by Jubainville ; Stokes does not attempt it.
T
290 LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
weapons. She was Cron, mother of Fianlug. She sharpened the
spear for Ruadan. It was a chief who handed Ruadan the spear,
and thence the name of chief-spear given to this day to the
weaver's beam in Erin.
"When he had got the spear Ruadan turned on Goibniu and smote
him with the weapon. But Goibniu drew the javelin from the
wound and hurled it at Ruadan ; who was pierced from side to side,
and escaped to die among the Fomorians in presence of his father.
Brig [his mother, the Dagda's daughter] came and bewailed her
son. First she uttered a piercing cry, and thereafter she made
moan. It was then that for the first time in Ireland were heard
moans and cries of sorrow. It was that same Brig who invented
the whistle used at night to give alarm signals " —
the mythological genesis of the saga is thus obviously marked
by the first satire, first cry of sorrow, and first whistle being
ascribed to the actors in it.
In the end the whole Fomorian army moved to battle in
their solid battalions, " and it was to strike one's hand against
a rock, or thrust one's hand into a nest of serpents, or put
one's head into the fire, to attack the Fomorians that day."
The battle is described at length. Nuada the king of the De
Danann is killed by Balor. Lugh, whose counsel was con-
sidered so valuable by the De Danann people that they put an
escort of nine round him to prevent him from taking part in
the fighting, breaks away, and attacks Balor the Fomorian
king.
" Balor had an evil eye, that eye only opened itself upon the
plain of battle. Four men had to lift up the eyelid by placing
under it an instrument. The warriors, whom Balor scanned
with that eye once opened, 1 could not — no matter how numerous
--resist their enemies."
When Lugh had met and exchanged some mystical and
1 A legend well known to the old men of Galway and Roscommon, who
have often related it to me, tells us that when Conan (Finn mac Cumhail's
Thersites) looked through his fingers at the enemy, they were always
defeated. He himself did not know this, nor any one except Finn, who
tried to make use of it without letting Conan know his own power.
THE MYTHOLOGICAL CYCLE 291
unintelligible language with him, Balor said, " Raise my
eyelid that I may see the braggart who speaks with me."
" His people raise Balor's eyelid. Lugh from his sling lets
fly a stone at Balor which passes through his head, carrying
with it the venomous eye. Balor's army looked on." The
M6r-rigu, the goddess of war, arrives, and assists the Tuatha De
Danann and encourages them. Ogma slays one of the
Fomorian kings and is slain himself. The battle is broken
at last on the Fomorians ; they fly, and Breas is taken
prisoner, but his life is spared.
" It was," says the saga, " at the battle of Moytura that Ogma,
the strong man, found the sword of Tethra, the King of the
Fomorians. Ogma drew that sword from the sheath and cleaned
it. It was then that it related to him all the high deeds that it had
accomplished, for at this time the custom was when swords were
drawn from the sheath they used to recite the exploits 1 they had
themselves been the cause of. And thence comes the right which
swords have, to be cleaned when they are drawn from the sheath ;
thence also the magic power which swords have preserved ever
since " —
to which curious piece of pagan superstition an evidently
later Christian redactor adds, " weapons were the organs of
the demon to speak to men. At that time men used to
worship weapons, and they were a magic safeguard."
The saga ends in the episode of the recovery of the Dagda's
harp, and in the cry of triumph uttered by the Mor-rigu and
by Bodb, her fellow-goddess of war, as they visited the various
heights of Ireland, the banks of streams, and the mouths of
floods and great rivers, to proclaim aloud their triumph and
the defeat of the Fomorians.
M. d'Arbois de Jubainville sees in the successive colonisations
of Partholan, the Nemedians, and the Tuatha De Danann, an
Irish version of the Greek legend of the three successive ages
1 There is a somewhat similar passage ascribing sensation to swords in
the Saga of Cuchulain's sickness.
292 LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
of gold, silver, and brass. The Greek legend of the Chimaera,
otherwise Bellerus, the monster slain by Bellerophon, he
equates with the Irish Balor of the evil eye ; the fire from the
throat of Bellerus, and the evil beam shot from Balor's eye may
originally have typified the lightning. 1
1 The First Battle of Moytura, the Second Battle of Moytura, and the
Death of the Children of Tuireann are three sagas belonging to this cycle.
Others, now preserved in the digest of the Book of Invasions, are, the Pro-
gress of Partholan to Erin, the Progress of Nemed to Erin, the Progress of
the Firbolg, the Progress of the Tuatha De Danann, the Journey of Mile-
son of Bile to Spain, the Journey of the Sons of Mile from Spain to Erin,
the Progress of the Cruithnigh (Picts) from Thrace to Erin and thence
into Alba.
CHAPTER XXIV
THE HEROIC OR RED BRANCH CYCLE CUCHULAIN
The mythological tales that we have been glancing at deal
with the folk who are fabled as having first colonised Erin ;
they treat of peoples, races, dynasties, the struggle between
good and evil principles. The whole of their creations are
thrown back, even by the Irish annalists themselves, into the
dim cloud-land of an unplumbcd past, ages before the dawn
of the first Olympiad, or the birth of the wolf-suckled twins
who founded Rome. There is over it all a shadowy sense of
vagueness, vastness, uncertainty.
The Heroic Cycle, on the other hand, deals with the history
of the Milesians themselves, the present Irish race, within a
well-defined space of time, upon their own ground, and though
it does not exactly fall within the historical period, yet it does
not come so far short of it that it can be with any certainty
rejected as pure work of imagination or poetic fiction. It is
certainly the finest of the three greater saga-cycles, and the
epics that belong to it are sharply drawn, numerous, clear cut,
and ancient, and for the first time we $eem y at least, to find
ourselves upon historical ground, although a good deal of this
seeming may turn out to be illusory. Yet the figures of
Cuchulain, Conor mac Nessa, Naoise, and Deirdre, Meve,
293
294 L 1 TER. I R ) " HIS T( >R ) r OF IRELAND
Oilioll, and Conall Cearnach, have about them a" great deal of
the circumstantiality that is entirely lacking to the dim, mist-
magnified, and distorted figures of the Dagda, Nuada, Lugh
the Long-handed, and their fellows.
The gods come and go as in the Iliad, and according to
some accounts leave their posterity behind them. Cuchulain
himself, the incarnation of Irish apiariia, is according to
certain authorities the son of the god Lugh the Long-handed. 1
He himself, like another Anchises, is beloved of a goddess and
descends into the Gaelic Elysium, 2 and the most important
epic of the cycle is largely conditioned by an occurrence
caused by the curse of a goddess, an occurrence wholly im-
possible and supernatural. 3 Yet these are for the most part
excrescences no more affecting the conduct of the history
than the actions of the gods affect the war round Troy.
Events, upon the whole, are motivated upon fairly reasonable
human grounds, and there is a certain air of probability
about them. The characters who now make their appearance
upon the scene are not long prior to, or are contemporaneous
1 Sec " Compert Conculaind," by Windisch in " Irische Texte," t. i. p.
134, and Jubainville's " Epopee Celtique en Irlande," p. 22.
2 Sec the story of Cuchulain's sick-bed, translated by O'Curry in the first
volume of the " Atlantis," and by Mr. O'Looney in Sir J. Gilbert's " Fac-
similes of the National MSS. of Ireland," and by Windisch in " Irische
Texte," vol. i., pp. 195-234, and by M. de Jubainville in his " Epopee
Celtique," p. 174, and lastly, Mr. Nutt's " Voyage of Bran," vol. ii., p. 38.
3 This is the periodic curse which overtook the Ulstermen at certain
periods, rendering them feeble as a woman in child-bed, in consequence
of the malediction of the goddess Macha, who was, just before the birth of
her children, inhumanly obliged by the Ultonians to run against the king's
horses. The only people of the northern province free from this curse
were the children born before the curse was uttered, the women, and the
hero Cuchulain. It transmitted itself from father to son for nine genera-
tions, and is said to have lasted five nights and four days, or four nights
and live days. But one would think from the Tain Bo Chuailgne that it
must have lasted much longer. For this curse see Jubainville's " Epopee
Celtique," p. 320. I was, not long ago, told a story by a peasant in the
county Galway not unlike it, only it was related of the mother of the
celebrated boxer Donnelly.
THE RED BRANCH CYCLE— CUCHULAIN 295
with, the birth of Christ ; and the wars of the Tuatha De
Danann, Nemedians, and Fomorians, are left some seventeen
hundred years behind.
This cycle, which I have called the " Heroic " or " Red
Branch," might also be named the " Ultonian," because it
deals chiefly with the heroes of the northern province. One
saga relates the birth of Conor mac Nessa. His mother was
Ness and his father was Fachtna Fathach, king of Ulster, but
according to what is probably the oldest account, his father
was Cathba the Druid. This saga relates how, through the
stratagem of his mother Ness, Conor slipped into the kingship
of Ulster, displacing Fergus mac Roigh [Roy], the former king,
who is here represented as a good-natured giant, but who appears
human enough in the other sagas. 1 Conor's palace is described
with its three buildings; that of the Red Branch, where were
kept the heads and arms of vanquished enemies ; that of the
Royal Branch, where the kings lodged ; and that of the
Speckled House, where were laid up the shields and spears
and swords of the warriors of Ulster. It was called the
Speckled or Variegated House from the gold and silver of the
shields, and gleaming of the spears, and shining of the goblets,
and all arms were kept in it, in order that at the banquet
when quarrels arose the warriors might not have wherewith
to slay each other.
Conor's palace at Emania contained, according to the Book
of Leinster, one hundred and fifty rooms, each large enough
for three couples to sleep in, constructed of red oak, and
bordered with copper. Conor's own chamber was decorated
with bronze and silver, and ornamented with golden birds, in
whose eyes were precious stones, and was large enough for thirty
1 Except in one place in the Tain Bo Chuailgne, where his sword is
spoken of, which was like a thread in his hand, but which when he smote
with it extended itself to the size of a rainbow, with three blows of which
upon the ground he raised three hills. The description of Fergus in the
Conor story preserved in the Book of Leinster, is simply and frankly
that of a giant many times the size of an ordinary man.
296 LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
warriors to drink together in it. Above the kind's head hung
his silver wand with three golden apples, and when he shook
it silence reigned throughout the palace, so that even the fall
of a pin might be heard. A large vat, always full of good
drink, stood ever on the palace floor.
Another story tells of Cuchulain's mysterious parentage.
His mother was a sister of King Conor ; consequently he was
the king's nephew.
Another again relates the wooing of Cuchulain, and how
he won Emer for his wife.
Another is called Cuchulain's "Up-bringing," or teaching, part
of which, however, is found in the piece called the "Wooing
of Emer." This saga relates how he, with two other of the
Ultonians, went abroad to Alba to perfect their warlike
accomplishments, and how they placed themselves under the
tuition of different female-warriors, 1 who taught them various
and extraordinary feats of arms. He traverses the plain of
Misfortune by the aid of a wheel and of an apple given him
by an unknown friend, and reaches the great female instructress
Scathach, whose daughter falls in love with him.
An admirable example occurs to me here, of showing in the
concrete that which I have elsewhere laid stress upon, namely,
the great elaboration which in many instances we find in the
modern versions of sagas, compared with the antique vellum
texts. It does not at all follow that because a story is written
down with brevity in ancient Irish, it was also told with
brevity. The oldest form of the saga of Cuchulain's " Wooing
of Emer" contains traces of a pre-Danish or seventh-century
text, but the condensed and shortened relation of the saga
found in the oldest manuscript of it, is almost certainly not
the form in which the bards and ollavs related it. On the
contrary, I believe that the stories now epitomised in ancient
vellum texts were even then told, though not written down,
1 The female warrior and war-teacher was not uncommon among the
Celts, as the examples of Boadjcea and of Meve of Connacht show.
THE RED BRANCH CYCLE— CUCHULAIN 297
at full length, and with many flourishes by the bards and
professed story-tellers, and that the skeletons merely, or as
Keating calls it, the " bones of the history," J were in most
instances all that was committed to the rare and expensive
parchments. It is more than likely that the longer modern
paper redactions, though some of the ancient pagan traits,
especially those most incomprehensible to the moderns, may
be missing, yet represent more nearly the manner of the
original bardic telling, than the abridgments of twelfth or
thirteenth-century vellums.
In this case the ancient recension, 2 founded on a pre-Danish
text, merely mentions that Scathach's house, at which Cuchulain
arrives, after leaving the plain of Misfortune,
" was built upon a rock of appalling height. Cuchulain followed
the road pointed out to him. He reached the castle of Scathach.
He knocked at the door with the handle of his spear and entered.
Uathach, the daughter of Scathach, meets him. She looked at him,
but she spoke not, so much did the hero's beauty make her love
him. She went to her mother and told her of the beauty of the man
who had newly come. ' That man has pleased you,' said her mother.
'He shall come to my couch,' answered the girl, 'and I shall sleep
at his side this night.' ' Thy intention displeases me not,' said her
mother."
One can see at a glance how bald and brief is all this, because
it is a precis, and vellum was scarce. I venture to say that no
bard ever told it in this way. The scribes who first committed
this to parchment, say in the seventh or eighth century, probably
wrote down only the leading incidents as they remembered
them. They may not have been themselves either bards,
ollavs, or story-tellers. It is chiefly in the later centuries,
after the introduction of paper, when the economising of
space ceased to be a matter of importance, that we find out-
sagas told with all the redundancy of description, epithet, and
incident with which I suspect the very earliest bards em-
bellished all those sagas of which we have now only little more
1 " Cnamha an tseanchusa," 2 Rawlinson, B. 512,
298 LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
than the skeletons. Compare, for instance, the ancient version
which 1 have just given, with the longer modern versions which
have come down to us in several paper manuscripts, of which I
here use one in my own possession, copied about the beginning
of the century bv a scribe named O'Mahon, upon one of the
islands on the Shannon.
In the first place this version tells us that on his arrival at
Scathach's mansion he finds a number of her scholars and other
warriors engaged in hurling outside the door of her fortress.
He joins in the game and defeats them — this is a true folk-lore
introduction. He finds there Naoise, Ardan, and Ainnle, the
three sons of Usnach, celebrated in perhaps the most touching
saga of this whole cycle, and another son of Erin with them.
This is a literary touch, by one who knew his literature. 1
Learning that he is come from Erin, they ask news of their native
country, ind salute him with kisses. They then bring him to
the Bridge of the Cliffs, and show him what their work is
during the first year, which was learning to pass this bridge.
" Wonderful," says the saga, " was the sight that bridge afforded
when any one would leap upon it, for it narrowed until it became as
narrow as the hair of one's head, and the second time it shortened
until it became as short as an inch, and the third time it grew
slippery until it was as slippery as an eel of the river, and the
fourth time it rose up on high against you until it was as tall as the
mast of a ship."
All the warriors and people on the lawn came down to see
Cuchulain attempting to cross this bridge. In the meantime
Scathach's grianan or sunny house is described : " It had seven
great doors, and seven great windows between every two doors
of them, and thrice fifty couches between every two windows
of them, and thrice fifty handsome marriageable girls, in scarlet
cloaks, and in beautiful and blue attire, attending and waiting
upon Scathach."
1 For Deirdrc in her lament over the three does call them " three
pupils of Scathach."
THE RED BRANCH CYCLE— CUCHULAIN 299
Then Scathach's lovely daughter, looking from the windows
of the grianan, perceives the stranger attempting the feat of
the bridge, and she falls in love with him upon the spot. Her
emotions are thus described : " Her face and colour constantly
changed, so that now she would be as white as a little white
flowret, and again she would become scarlet," and in the work
she was embroidering she put the gold thread where the silver
thread should be, and the silver thread into the place where
the gold thread should go ; and when her mother notices it,
she excuses herself by saying beautifully, "I would greatly
grieve should he not return alive to his own people, in what-
ever part of the world they may be, for I know that there
is some one to whom it would be anguish to know that he
is thus."
This refined reflection of the girl we may with certainty
ascribe to the growth of modern sentiment, and it is extremely
instructive to compare it with the ancient, and no doubt really
pagan version ; but I strongly suspect that the bridge over the
cliffs is no modern embellishment at all, but part of the original
saga, though omitted from the pre-Norse text which only tells us
that Scathach's house was on the top of a rock of appalling
height.
It was during this sojourn of Cuchulain in foreign lands
that he overcame the heroine Aoife, 1 and forced her into a
marriage with himself. He returned home afterwards, having
left instructions with her to keep the child she should bear
him, if it were a daughter, "for with every mother goes the
daughter," but if it were a son she was to rear him until he
should be able to perform certain hero-feats, and until his
finder should be lartre enough to fill a rinc; which Cuchulain
left with her for him. Then she was to send him into
Erin, and bid him tell no man who he was ; also he desired
1 Pronounced " Ecfa." The triphthong aoi has always the sound of cc
i in English. The stepmother of the Children of Lir was also called
A Aoife.
300 LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
her not to reach him the feat of the Gae-Bulg, "but,
however," says the saga, " it was ill that command turned
out, for it was of that it came to pass that Conlaoch [the son]
fell by Cuchulain." *
I know of no prose saga of the touching story of the death
of this son, slain by his own father, except the resume given or
it by Keating, 2 but there exists a poem or epopee upon the
subject which was always a great favourite with the Irish
scribes, and of which numerous but not ancient copies exist.
This is the Irish Sohrab and Rustum, the Celtic Hildebrand
and Hadubrand. The son comes into Ireland, but in con-
sequence of his mother's command, refuses to tell his name.
This is looked upon as indicating hostility, and many of the
Ultonians fight with him, but he overcomes them all, even the
great Conall Cearnach. Conor in despair sends for Cuchulain,
who with difficulty slays him by the feat of the Gae-Bolg,
and then finds out when too late that the dying champion is
his own son. So familiar to the modern Irish scribes was this
piece that in my copy, in the last verse, which ends with
Cuchulain's lament over his son —
" I am the bark (buffeted) from wave to wave,
I am the ship after the losing of its rudder,
1 I quote this from my paper version. The oldest text only says that
" Cuchulain told her that she should bear him a son, and that upon a
certain day in seven years' time that son should go to him ; he told her what
name she should give him, and then he went away."
2 P. 279 of John O'Mahony's edition, translated also by M. de Jubain-
ville in his "Epopee Celtique," who comparing the Irish story with its
Germanic counterpart expresses himself strongly on their relative merits :
" Tout est puissant, logique, primitif, dans la piece irlandaise ; sa concord-
ance avec la piece persanne atteste une haute antiquite. Elle peut remonter
aux epoques celtiques les plus anciennes, et avoir ete du nombre des
carmina chantes par les Gaulois a la bataille de Clusium eh 295 av. J. — C.
Le poeme allemand dont on a une copie du huitieme siecle est une
imitation inintelligente et affaiblie du chant celtique qui a du retentir sur
les rives du Danube et du Mein mille ans plus tot, et dont la redaction
germanique est l'ceuvre de quelque naif Macpherson, predecesseur
honnC'lemcnt inhabile de celui du dix-huitieme siecle.'"
THE RED BRANCH CYCLE— CUCHULAIN 301
I am the apple upon the top of the tree
That little thought of its falling." 1
instead of the text of the third line stands a rough picture of a
tree with a large apple on the top !
Another saga 2 tells of Cuchulain's geasa [gassa] or restric-
tions. It was gets or tabu to him to narrate his genealogy
to one champion, as it was also to his son Conlaoch, to refuse
combat to any one man, to look upon the exposed bosom of
a woman, to come into a company without a second invita-
tion, to accept the hospitality of virgins, to boast to a woman,
to let the sun rise before him in Emania, he must when there
rise before it, etc. There is in this saga a graphic description
of the pagan king's retinue journeying with him to be fed in
the house of a retainer.
" All the Ultonian nobles set out ; a great train of provincials, sons
of kings and chiefs, young lords and men-at-arms, the curled and
rosy youth of the kingdom, and the maidens and fair ringleted
ladies of Ulster. Handsome virgins, accomplished damsels, and
splendid, fully-developed women were there. Satirists and scholars
were there, and the companies of singers and musicians, poets who
composed songs and reproofs, and praising-poems for the men of
Ulster. There came also with them from Emania historians, judges,
horse-riders, buffoons, tumblers, fools, and performers on horseback.
They all went by the same way, behind the king." 3
Dismissing Cuchulain for the present, we pass on now to
another personality of the Red Branch saga — the Lady
Deirdre.
1 " Is me an bare o thuinn go tuinn,
Is me an long iar ndul d'a stiur.
Is me an t-ubhall i mbarr an chroinn
Is beag do shaoil a thuitim."
See Miss Brooke's " Reliques of Ancient Irish Poetry," 2nd ed. p. 393.
See also Kuno Meyer's note at p. xv of his edition of Catli Finntragha, in
which he bears further evidence to the antiquity and persistence of this
story.
2 See the Book of Leinster, 107-111, a MS. copied about the year 1150.
3 Thus translated by my late lamented friend and accomplished scholar
Father James Keegan of St. Louis.
CHAPTER XXV
DEIRDRE
One of the key-stone stories of the Red Branch Cycle is
Deirdre, or the Fate of the Children of Usnach. Cuchulain,
though he appears in this saga, is not a prominent figure in it.
This piece is perhaps the finest, most pathetic, and best-
conceived of any in .the whole range of our literature. But
like much of that literature it exists in the most various
recensions, and there are different accounts given of the death
of all the principal characters.
This saga commences with the birth of Deirdre. King
Conor and his Ultonians had gone to drink and feast in the
house of Felim, Conor's chief story-teller, and during their
stay there Felim's wife gives birth to a daughter. Cathba the
Druid prophesies concerning the infant, and foretells that much
woe and great calamities shall yet come upon Ulster because
of her. He names her Deirdre. 1 The Ultonians are smitten
with horror at his prophecies, and order her to be instantly put
to death. The most ancient text, that of the twelfth-century
Book of Leinster, tells the beginning of this saga exceedingly
tersely.
1 Pronounced " Dare-drS," said to mean " alarm." Jubainville translates it
" Celle-qui-se-debat."
302
DEIRDRE 303
" ' Let the girl be slain,' cried the warriors. ' Not so/ said King
Conor, ' but bring ye her to me to-morrow ; she shall be brought up
as I shall order, and she shall be the woman whom I shall marry.'
The Ultonians ventured not to contradict the King ; they did as he
commanded.
" Deirdre was brought up in Conor's house. She became the
handsomest maiden in Ireland. She was reared in a house apart : no
man was allowed to see her until she should become Conor's wife.
No one was permitted to enter the house except her tutor, her nurse,
and Lavarcam, 1 whom they ventured not to keep out, for she was a
druidess magician whose incantations they feared.
" One winter day Deirdre's tutor slew a young tender calf upon
the snow outside the house, which he was to cook for his pupil.
She beheld a raven drinking the blood upon the snow. She said to
Lavarcam, ' The onty man I could love would be one who should
have those three colours, hair black as the raven, cheeks red as the
blood, body white as the snow.' ' Thou hast an opportunity,'
answered Lavarcam, ' the man whom thou desirest is not far off,
he is close to thee in the palace itself ; he is Naesi, son of Usnach.'
' I shall not be happy,' answered Deirdre, ' until I have seen him.' "
This famous story "which is known," as Dr. Cameron puts
it, "over all the lands of the Gael', both in Ireland and
Scotland," 2 has been more fortunate than any other in the
whole range of Irish literature, for it has engaged the attention
of, and been edited from different texts by, nearly every great
Celtic scholar of this century.3 Yet I luckily discovered last
1 In the older form Leborcham. She is generally described as Conor's
messenger ; in one place she is called his bean-cainte or "talking-woman " ;
this is the only passage I know of in which she is credited with any higher
powers. She is said elsewhere to have been the daughter of two slaves of
Conor's household, Oa or Aue and Adarc.
2 Yet when in Trinity College Dublin, a few years ago, the subject — the
first Irish subject for twenty-seven years — set for the Vice-Chancellor's
Prize in English verse was "Deirdre," it was found that the students did
not know what that word meant, or what Deirdre was, whether animal,
vegetable, or mineral. So true it is that, despite all the efforts of Davis
and his fellows, there arc yet two nations in Ireland. Trinity College
might to some extent bridge the gap if she would, but she has carefully
refrained from attempting it.
3 O'Flanagan first printed two versions of it in the solitary volume
which comprises the " Transactions of the Gaelic Society," as early as
304 LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
year in the museum in Belfast by far the amplest and most
graphic version of them all, bound up with some other pieces
of different dates. It was copied at the end of the last or the
beginning of the present century by a northern scribe, from
a copy which must have been fairly old to judge from the
language and from the glosses in the margin. I give here a
literal translation of the opening of the story from this manu-
script, and it is an admirable example of the later extension and
embellishment of the ancient texts.
THE OPENING OF THE FATE OF THE SONS OF USNACH,
FROM A MS. IN THE BELFAST MUSEUM.
" Once upon a time Conor, son of Fachtna, and the nobles of the
Red Branch, went to a feast to the house of Feidhlim, the son of
1808. The older of these two versions agrees closely with that contained
in " Egerton, 1782," of the British Museum, but neither of the MSS. which
he used is now known to exist. Eugene O' Curry edited the story from
the text in the Yellow Book of Lecan, with a translation in the "Atlantis,"
a long defunct Irish periodical. Windisch edited the oldest existing
version, that of the Book of Leinster, in the first volume of " Irische Texte."
None of these three versions differ appreciably. In the second volume of
the same, Dr. Whitley Stokes edited a consecutive text from 56 and 53
of the MSS. in the Advocates' Library at Edinburgh, the latter of which is
a vellum of the fifteenth century. Finally, the text of both these MSS.
was published in full in vol. ii. of Dr. Cameron's " Reliquiae Celticoe,"
where he also gives a translation of the first. Keating, too, in his history,
retells the story at considerable length. Windisch's, O'Curry's, and
O'Flanagan's texts were reprinted in 1883 in the " Gaelic Journal." In
addition to all these Mr. Carmichael published in Gaelic in 1887 an
admirable folk-lore version of the story from the Isles of Scotland in the
thirteenth volume of the " Transactions of the Inverness Gaelic Society,"
and the tale is retold in English, chiefly from this version, by Mr. Jacobs
in the first series of his " Celtic Fairy Tales." M. d'Arbois de Jubainvillc
has given a French translation of the entire story from the Book of
Leinster, the older Edinburgh MS., and the Highland Folktale, the latter
two being translated by M. Georges Dottin. Macpherson made this story
the foundation of his " Darthula." Dr. Dwyer Joyce published the story in
America as an English poem. Sir Samuel Ferguson, Dr. Todhunter, and
the present writer have all published adaptations of it in English verse,
and Mr. Rolleston made it the subject of the Prize Cantata at the Feis
Ceoil in Dublin in 1807. Hence I may print here this new and full open-
ing of a piece so celebrated. For text sec Zcit. f. Celt. Phil. II. 1, p. 142.
DEIRDRE 305
Doll, the king's principal story-teller ; and the King and people were
merry and light hearted, eating that feast in the house of the prin-
cipal story-teller, with gentle music of the musicians, and with the
melody of the voices of the bards and the ollavs, with the delight of
the speech and ancient tales of the sages, and of those who read the
keenes (?) (written on) flags and books ; (listening) to the prognosti-
cations of the druids and of those who numbered the moon and
stars. And at the time when the assembly were merry and pleasant
in general it chanced that Feidhlim's wife bore a beautiful, well-
shaped daughter, during the feast. Up rises expeditiously the gentle
Cathfaidh, the Head-druid of Erin, who chanced to be present in the
assembly at that time, and a bundle of his ancient . . . ? fairy books
in his left hand with him, and out he goes on the border of the rath
to minutely observe and closely scrutinise the clouds of the air, the
position of the stars and the age of the moon, to gain a prognos-
tication and a knowledge of the fate that was in store for the child
who was born there. Cathfaidh then returns quickly to all in
presence of the King and told them an omen and prophecy, that
many hurts and losses should come to the province of Ulster on
account of the girl that was born there. On the nobles of Ulster
receiving this prophecy they resolved on the plan of destroying the
infant, and the heroes of the Red Branch bade slay her without
delay.
" ' Let it not be so done,' says the King ; * it is not laudable to fight
against fate, and woe to him who would destroy an innocent infant,
for agreeable is the appearance and the laugh of the child ; alas ! it
were a pity to quench her (life). Observe, O ye Nobles of Ulster,
and listen to me, O ye valiant heroes of the Red Branch, and under-
stand that I still submit to the omen of the prophecies and fore-
tellings of the seers, but yet I do not submit to, nor do I praise, the
committing of a base deed, or a deed of treachery, in the hope of
quenching the anger of the power of the elements. If it be a fate
which it is not possible to avoid, give ye, each of you, death to
himself, but do not shed the blood of the innocent infant, for it were
not (our) due (to have) prosperity thereafter. I proclaim to you,
moreover, O ye nobles of Emania, that I take the girl under my
own protection from henceforth, and if I and she live and last, it
may be that I shall have her as my one-wife and gentle consort.
Therefore, I assure the men of Erin by the securities of the moon
and sun, that any one who would venture to destroy her either now
or again, shall neither live nor last, if I survive her.'
" The nobles of Ulster, and every one in general listened silent and
mute, until Conall Cearnach, Fergus mac Roigh, and the heroes of
the Red Branch rose up together, and 'twas what they said, 'O High-
u
jo6 LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
king of Ulster, right is thy judgment, and it is (our) due to observe
it, and let it be thy will that is done.'
"As for the girl, Conor took her under his own protection, and
placed her in a moat apart, to be brought up by his nurse, whose
name was Lavarcam, in a fortress of the Red Branch, and Conor
and Cathfaidh the druid gave her the name of Deirdre. Afterwards
Deirdre was being generously nurtured under Lavarcam and (other)
ladies, perfecting her in every science that was fitting for the
daughter of a high prince, until she grew up a blossom-bearing
sapling, and until her beauty was beyond every degree surpassing.
Moreover, she was nurtured with excessive luxury of meat and drink
that her stature and ripeness might be the greater for it, and that
she might be the sooner marriageable. This is how Deirdre's abode
was (situated, namely) in a fortress of the Branch, according to the
King's command, every (aperture for) light closed in the front of the
dun, and the windows of the back (ordered) to be open. A beautiful
orchard full of fruit (lay) at the back of the fort, in which Deirdre
might be walking for a while under the eye of her tutor at the
beginning and the end of the day ; under the shade of the fresh
boughs and branches, and by the side of a running, meandering
stream that was winding softly through the middle of the walled
garden. A high, tremendous difficult wall, not easy to surmount,
(was) surrounding that spacious habitation, and four savage man-
hounds (sent) from Conor (were) on constant guard there, and his
life were in peril for the man who would venture to approach it.
For it was not permitted to any male to come next nor near Deirdre,
nor even to look at her, but (only) to her tutor, whose name was
Cailcin, and to King Conor himself. Prosperous was Conor's sway,
and valiant was the fame (i.e., famous was the valour) of the Red
Branch, defending the province of Ulster against foreigners and
against every other province in Erin in his time, and there were no
three in the household of Emania or throughout all Banba [Ireland]
more brilliant than the sons of Uisneach, nor heroes of higher fame
than they, Naoise [Neesha], Ainle, and Ardan.
" As for Deirdre, when she was fourteen years of age she was
found marriageable and Conor designed to take her to his own royal
couch. About this time a sadness and a heavy flood of melancholy
lay upon the young queen, without gentle sleep, without sufficient
food, without sprightliness — as had been her wont.
" Until it chanced of a day, while snow lay (on the ground),
in the winter, that Cailcin, Deirdre's tutor, went to kill a
calf to get ready food for her, and after shedding the blood of
the calf out upon the snow, a raven stoops upon it to drink it, and
as Deirdre perceives that, and she watching through a window of
DEIRDRE 307
the fortress, she heaved a heavy sigh so that Cailcin heard her.
' Wherefore thy melancholy, girl ? ' said he. ' Alas that I have not
yon thing as I see it,' said she. 'Thou shalt have that if it be
possible,' said he, drawing his hand dexterously so that he gave an
unerring cast of his knife at the raven, so that he cut one foot off it.
And after that he takes up the bird and throws it over near Deirdre.
The girl starts at once, and fell into a faint, until Lavarcam came up
to help her. ' Why art thou as I see thee, dear girl,' said she, ' for
thy countenance is pitiable ever since yesterday ? ' 'A desire that
came to me,' said Deirdre. ' What is that desire ? ' said Lavarcam.
'Three colours that I saw,' said Deirdre, 'namely, the blackness of
the raven, the redness of the blood, and the whiteness of the snow.'
'It is easy to get that for thee now,' said Lavarcam, and arose (and
went) out without delay, and she gathered the full of a vessel of
snow, and half the full of a cup of the calf's blood, and she pulls
three feathers out of the wing of the raven. And she laid them
down on the table before the girl. Deirdre began as though she
were eating the snow and lazily tasting the blood with the top of the
raven's feather, and her nurse closely scrutinising her, until Deirdre
asked Lavarcam to leave her alone by herself for a while. Lavarcam
departs, and again returns, and this is how she found Deirdre —
shaping a ball of snow in the likeness of a man's head and mottling
it with the top of the raven's feather out of the blood of the calf,
and putting the small black plumage as hair upon it, and she never
perceived her nurse examining her until she had finished. ' Whose
likeness is that ? ' said Lavarcam. Deirdre starts and she said, ' It is
a work easily destroyed.' ' That work is a great wonder to me, girl,'
said Lavarcam, ' because it was not thy wont to draw pictures of a
man, (and) it was not permitted to the women of Emania to teach
thee any similitude but that of Conor only.' ' I saw a face in my
dream,' said Deirdre, 'that was of brighter countenance than the
King's face, or Cailcin's, and it was in it that I saw the three colours
that pained me, namely, the whiteness of the snow on his skin, the
blackness of the raven on his hair, and the redness of the blood
upon his countenance, and oh woe ! my life will not last, unless I
get my desire.' 'Alas for thy desire, my darling,' said Lavarcam.
f My desire, O gentle nurse,' said Deirdre. ' Alas ! 'tis a pity thy
desire, it is difficult to get it,' said Lavarcam, 'for fast and close is
the fortress of the Branch, and high and difficult is the enclosure
round about, and [there is] the sharp watch of the fierce man-
bounds in it.' 'The hounds are no danger to us,' said Deirdre.
Where did you behold that face?' said Lavarcam. ' In a dream
yesterday,' said Deirdre, and she weeping, after hiding her face in
ler nurse's bosom, and shedding tears plentifully. ' Rise up from
3o8 LITERARY ///STORY OF IRELAND
me, dear pupil,' said Lavarcam, 'and restrain thy tears henceforth
till thou eatest food and takest a drink, and after Cailcin's eating his
meal we shall talk together about the dream.' Her nurse raises
Deirdre's head, ' Take courage, daughter,' said she, 'and be patient, \
for I am certain that thou shalt get thy desire, for according to
human age and life, Conor's time beside thee is not (to be) long or
lasting.'
" After Lavarcam's departing from her, she [Lavarcam] perceived
a green mantle hung in the front of a closed-up window on the ;
head of a brass club and the point of a spear thrust through the
wall of the mansion. Lavarcam puts her hand to it so that it readily
came away with her, and stones and moss fell down after it, so that
the light of day, and the grassy lawn, and the Champion's Plain in
front of the mansion, and the heroes at their feats of activity became
visible. ' I understand, now, my pupil,' said Lavarcam, ' that it was i
here you saw that dream.' But Deirdre did not answer her. Her
nurse left food and ale on the table before Deirdre, and departed
from her without speaking, for the boring-through of the window
did not please Lavarcam, for fear of Conor or of Cailcin coming to
the knowledge of it. As for Deirdre, she ate not her food, but she
quenched her thirst out of a goblet of ale, and she takes with her
the flesh of the calf, after covering it under a corner of her mantle,
and she went to her tutor and asks leave of him to go out for a while <
(and walk) at the back of the mansion. ' The day is cold, and there j
is snow darkening in (the air) daughter,' said Cailcin, ' but you can \
walk for a while under the shelter of the walls of the mansion, but
mind the house of the hounds.'
" Deirdre went out, and no stop was made by her until she passed
down through the middle of the snow to where the den of the man- B
hounds was, and as soon as the hounds recognised her and the smell
of the meat they did not touch her, and they made no barking till
she divided her food amongst them, and she retu r ns into the house '
afterwards. Thereupon came Lavarcam, and found Deirdre lying
upon one side of her couch, and she sighing heavily and shedding .
tears. Her nurse stood silent for a while observing her, till her heart
was softened to compassion and her anger departed from her. She
stretched out her hand, and 'twas what she said, ' Rise up, modest
daughter, that we may be talking about the dream, and tell me did
you ever see that black hero before yesterday ? ' ' White hero, gentle
nurse, hero of the pleasant crimson cheeks,' said Deirdre. 'Tell ,
me without falsehood,' said Lavarcam, ' did you ever see that warrior
before yesterday, or before you bored through the window-work
with the head of a spear and with a brass club, and till you looked j
out through it on the warriors of the Branch when they were at |
. DEIRDRE 309
their feats of activity on the Champion Plain, and till you saw all the
dreams you spoke of ? ' Deirdre hides her head in her nurse's
bosom, weeping, till she said, ' Oh, gentle mother and nurturer of
my heart, do not tell that to my tutor ; and I shall not conceal from
thee that I saw him on the lawn of Emania, playing games with the
boys, and learning feats of valour, and och ! he had the beautiful
countenance at that time, and very lovely was it yesterday (too).'
■ Daughter,' said Lavarcam, ' you did not see the boys on the green
of Emania from the time you were seven years of age, and that is
seven years ago.' ' Seven bitter years,' said Deirdre, ' since I beheld
the delight of the green and the playing of the boys, and surely, too,
Naoise surpassed all the youths of Emania.' ' Naoise, the son of
Uisneach ? ' said Lavarcam. ' Naoise is his name, as he told me,' said
Deirdre, ' but I did not ask whose son he was.' ' As he told you ! ' said
Lavarcam. ' As he told me,' said Deirdre, ' when he made a throw of
a ball, by a miss-cast, backwards transversely over the heads of the
band of maidens that were standing on the edge of the green, and
I rose from amongst them all, till I lifted the ball, and I delivered
it to him, and he pressed my hand joyously.' ' He pressed your hand,
girl ! ' said Lavarcam. ' He pressed it lovingly, and said that he
would see me again, but it was difficult for him, and I did not see
him since until yesterday, and oh, gentle nurse, if you wish me to
be alive take a message to him from me, and tell him to come to
visit me and talk with me secretly to-night without the knowledge
of Cailcin or any other person.' ' Oh, girl,' said Lavarcam, ' it is a
very dangerous attempt to gain the quenching of thy desire [being
in peril] from the anger of the King, and under the sharp watch of
Cailcin, considering the fierceness of the savage man-hounds, and
considering the difficulty of (scaling) the enclosure round about.'
'The hounds are no danger to us,' said Deirdre. ' Then, too,' said
Lavarcam, ' great is Conor's love for the children of Uisneach, and
there is not in the Red Branch a hero dearer to him than Naoise.'
' If he be the son of Uisneach,' said Deirdre, ' 1 heard the report of
him from the women of Emania, and that great are his own terri-
tories in the West of Alba, outside of Conor's sway, and, gentle
nurse, go to find Naoise, and you can tell him how I am, and how
much greater my love for him is than for Conor.' ' Tell him that
yourself if you can,' said Lavarcam, and she went out thereupon to
seek Naoise till he was found, and till he came with her to Deirdre's
dwelling in the beginning of the night, without Cailcin's knowledge.
^ When Naoise beheld the splendour of the girl's countenance he is
filled with a flood of love, and Deirdre beseeches him to lake her and
escape to Alba. But Naoise thought that too hazardous, for fear of
Conor. But in the course (?) of the night Deirdre won him over, so
310 LITERARY I //STORY OF IRELAND
that he consented to her, and they determined lo depart on the night
of the morrow.
" Deirdre escaped in the middle of the night without the know-
ledge of her tutor or her nurse, for Naoise came at that time and his
two brothers along with him, so that he bored a gap at the back of
the hounds' den, for the dogs were dead already through poison from
Deirdre.
" They lifted the girl over the walls, through every rough impedi-
ment, so that her mantle and the extremity of her dress were all
tattered, and he set her upon the back of a steed, and no stop was
made by them till (they reached) Sliabh Fuaid and Finn-charn of
the watch, till they came to the harbour and went aboard a ship and
were driven by a south wind across the ocean-waters and over the
back-ridges of the deep sea to Loch n-Eathaigh in the west of
Alba, and thrice fifty valiant champions [sailed] along with them,
namely, fifty with each of the three brothers, Naoise, Ainle, and
Ardan."
The three brothers and Deirdre lived for a long time happily
in Scotland and rose to great favour and power with the King,
until he discovered the existence of the beautiful Deirdre,
whom they had carefully kept concealed lest he should desire
her for his wife. This discovery drives them forth again, and
they live by hunting in the highlands and islands.
It is only at this point that most of the modern copies, such
as that published by O'Flanagan in 1808, begin, namely,
with a feast of King Conor's, in which he asks his household
and all the warriors of Ulster who are present, whether they
are aware of anything lacking to his palace in Emania. They
all reply that to them it seems perfect. " Not so to me,"
answers Conor, " I know of a great want which presseth upon
you, namely, three renowned youths, the three luminaries of
the valour of the Gaels, the three beautiful, noble sons of
Usnach, to be wanting to you on account of any woman in
the world." " Dared we say that," said they, " long since
would we have said it."
Conor thereupon proposes to send ambassadors to them to
solicit their return. He takes Conall Cearnach apart and asks
him if he will go, and what would he do should the sons of
DEIRDRE 311
Usnach be slain while under his protection. Conall answers
that he would slay without mercy any Ultonian who dared to
touch one of them. So does Cuchulain. Fergus mac Roigh
alone promises not to injure the King himself should he touch
them, but any other Ultonian who should wrong them must
die. Fergus and his two sons sailed to Alba, commissioned to
proclaim peace to the sons of Usnach and bring them home.
Having landed, Fergus gives forth the cry of a " mighty man
of chace." Naoise and Deirdre were sitting together in their
hunting booth playing at chess. Naoise heard the cry and said,
"I hear the call of a man of Erin." "That was not the call
of a man of Erin," said Deirdre, " but the call of a man of
Alba." Twice again did Fergus shout, and twice did Deirdre
insist that it was not the cry of a man of Erin. At last Naoise
recognises the voice of Fergus, and sends his brother to meet
him. Then Deirdre confesses that she had recognised the call
of Fergus from the beginning. " Why didst thou conceal it
then, my queen ? " said Naoise. " A vision I had last night,"
said Deirdre, " for three birds came to us from Emania having
three sups of honey in their beaks, and they left them with
us, but they took with them three sups of our blood." " And
how readest thou that, my queen," said Naoise. " It is," said
Deirdre, " the coming of Fergus to us with a peaceful message
from Conor, for honey is not more sweet than the peaceful
message of the false man."
But all is of no avail. Fergus and his sons arrive and spend the
night with the children of Usnach, and despite of all that Deirdre
can do, she sees them slowly win her husband round to their
side, and inspire him with a desire to return once more to Erin.
Next morning they embark. Deirdre weeps and utters
lamentations ; she sings her bitter regret at leaving the scenes
where she had been so happy.
"Delightful land," she sang, "yon eastern hind, Alba, with ils
wonders. I had never come hither out of it had I not come with
Naoise. , . .
312 LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
" The Vale of Laidh, Oh in the Vale of Laidh, I used to sleep
under soft coverlet : fish and venison and the fat of the badger were
my repast in the Vale of Laidh.
"The Vale of Masan, oh the Vale of Masan, high its harts-tongue,
fair its stalks, we used to enjoy a rocking sleep above the grassy
verge of Masan.'
" The vale of Eiti, oh the vale of Eiti ! In it I raised my first
house, lovely was its wood (when seen) on rising, the milking-house
of the sun was the vale of Eiti.
" Glendarua, oh Glendarua ! my love to every one who enjoys it ;
sweet the voice of the cuckoo upon bending bough upon the cliff
above Glendarua.
" Dear is Droighin over the strong shore. Dear are its waters
over pure sand ; I would never have come from it had I not come
with my love."
She ceased to sing, the vessel approached the shore, and the
fugitives are landed once more in Erin. But dangers thicken
round them. Through a strategy of King Conor's Fergus is
placed under geasa or tabu by a man called Barach to stay
and partake of a feast with him, and thus detached from the
sons of Usnach, who are left alone with his two sons instead.
Then Deirdre again uses all her influence with her husband
and his brothers to sail to Rathlin and wait there until they
can be rejoined by Fergus, but she does not prevail. After
that she has a terrifying dream, and tells it to them, but
Naoise answered lightly in verse —
" Thy mouth pronounceth not but evil,
O maiden, beautiful, incomparable ;
The venom of thy delicate ruby mouth
Fall on the hateful furious foreigners."
Thereafter, as they advanced farther upon their way towards
King Conor's palace at Emania, the omens of evil grow
1 " Gleann Masain, on Gleann Masain,
Ard a chneamn, £eal a ghasain,
Do ghnidhmis codladh eorrach
Os inbhear mongach Masain."
DEIRDRE 313
thicker still, and all Deirdre's terrors are re-awakened by the
rising of a blood-red cloud.
" ' O Naoise, view the cloud
That I see here on the sky,
I see over Emania green
A chilling cloud of blood-tinged red.
I have caught alarm from the cloud
I see here in the sky,
It is like a gore-clot of blood,
The cloud terrific very-thin.' "
And she urged them to turn aside to Cuchulain's palace at
Dundalgan, and remain under that hero's safeguard till Fergus
could rejoin them. But she cannot persuade the others that
the treachery which she herself sees so clearly is really intended.
Her last despairing attempt is made as they come in sight of
the royal city ; she tells them that if, when they arrrive, they
are admitted into the mansion in which King Conor is
feasting with the nobles of Ulster round him, they are safe, but
if they are on any pretext quartered by the King in the
House of the Red Branch, they may be certain of treachery.
They are sent to the House of the Red Branch, and not
admitted among the King's revellers, on the pretended grounds
that the Red Branch is better prepared for strangers, and that
its larder and its cellar are better provided with food and drink
than the King's mansion. All now begin to feel that the net
is closing over them. Late in the night King Conor, fired
with drink and jealousy, called for some one to go for him and
bring him word how Deirdre looked, " for if her own form live
upon her, there is not in the world a woman more beautiful
than she." Lavarcam, the nurse, undertakes to go. She, of
course, discloses to Deirdre and Naoise the treachery that is
being plotted against them, and returning to Conor she tells
him that Deirdre has wholly lost her beauty, whereat, " much
of his jealousy abated, and lie continued to indulge in feasting
and enjoyment a loner while, until he thought of Deirdre a
314 LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
second time." This time he docs not trust Lavarcam, but
sends one of his retainers, first reminding him that his
father and his three brothers had been slain by Naoise. But
in the mean time the entrances and windows of the Red
Branch had been shut and barred and the doors barricaded by
the sons of Usnach. One small window, however, had been
left open at the back and the spy climbed upon a ladder and
looked through it and saw Naoise and Deirdre sitting together
and playing at chess. Deirdre called Naoise's attention to the
face looking at them, and Naoise, who was lifting a chessman
off the board, hurled it at the head and broke the eye that
looked at them. The man ran back and told the King that
it was worth losing an eye to have beheld a woman so lovely.
Then Conor, fired with fury and jealousy, led his troops to the
assault, and all night long there is fighting and shouting round
the Red Branch House, and Naoise's brothers, helped by the
two sons of Fergus, pass the night in repelling attack, and in
quenching the fires that break out all round the house. At
length one of Fergus's sons is slain and the other is bought off
by a bribe of land and a promise of power from King Conor,
and now the morning begins to dawn, but the sons of Usnach
are still living, and Deirdre is still untaken. At last Conor's
druid, Cathba, consents to work a spell against them ii
Conor will plight his faithful word that having once taken
Deirdre he will not touch or harm the sons of Usnach. Conor
plights his word and troth, and the spell is set at work. The
sons of Usnach had left the half-burnt house and were
escaping in the morning light with Deirdre between them
when they met, as they thought, a sea of thick viscid waves,
and they cast down their weapons and spread abroad their arms
and tried to swim, and Conor's soldiers came and took them
without a blow. They were brought to Conor and he caused
them to be at once beheaded. It was then the druid cursed
E mania, for Conor had broken his plighted word, and that
curse was fulfilled in the misery that fell upon the province
DEIRDRE 315
during the wars with Meve. He cursed also the house of
Conor, and prophesied that none of his descendants should
possess Emania for ever, "and that," adds the saga, "has been
verified, for neither Conor nor any of his race possessed Emania
from that time to this." J
As for Deirdre, she was as one distracted ; she fell upon the
ground and drank their blood, she tore her hair and rent her
dishevelled tresses, and the lament she broke forth into has long
been a favourite of Irish scribes. She calls aloud upon the
dead, " the three falcons of the mount of Culan, the three
lions of wood of the cave, the three sons of the breast of the
Ultonians, the three props of the battalion of Chuailgne, the
three dragons of the fort of Monadh."
" The High King of Ulster, my first husband,
I forsook him for the love of Naoise.
.... o
That I shall live after Naoise
Let no man on earth imagine.
Their three shields and their three spears
Have often been mv bed.
I never was one day alone
Until the day of the making of the grave,
Although both I and ye
Were often in solitude.
My sight has gone from me
At seeing the grave of Naoise."
1 We have seen that none of the race of Ir claim descent from Conor ;
all their great families O'Mores, O'Farrells, etc., descend from Fergus mac
Roigh [Roy] or Conall Cearnach (sec p. 69 note) ; yet Conor had twenty-
one sons, all of whom, says Keating, died without issue except three —
" Benna, from whom descended the Benntraidhe ; Lamha, from whom
came the Lamhraidhe ; and Glasni, whose descendants were the Glas-
naide ; but even of these," adds Keating, " there is not at this day a single
descendant alive in Ireland.'' See O'Mahony's translation, p. 278.
3i6 LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
She remembers now in her own agony another woman who
would lament with her could she but know that Naoise had
died.
" On a day thai the nobles of Alba [Scotland] were feasting,
And the sons of Usnach, deserving of love,
To the daughter of the lord of Duntrone
Naoise gave a secret kiss.
He sent to her a frisking doe,
A deer of the forest with a fawn at its foot,
And he went aside to her on a visit
While returning from the host of Inverness.
But when I heard that
My head filled full of jealousy,
I launched my little skiff upon the waves,
I did not care whether I died or lived.
They followed me, swimming,
Ainnle and Ardan, who never uttered falsehood,
And they turned me in to land again,
Two who would subdue a hundred.
Naoise pledged me his word of truth,
And he swore in presence of his weapons three times,
That he would never cloud my countenance again
Till he should go from me to the army of the dead.
Alas ! if she were to hear this night
That Naoise was under cover in the clay,
She would weep most certainly,
And I, I would weep with her sevenfold." *
After her lay of lamentation she falls into the grave where the
three are being buried, and dies above them. "Their flag
was raised over their tomb, and their names were written in
Ogam, and their funeral games were celebrated. Thus far
the tragedy of the sons of Usnach."
The oldest and briefest version of this fine saga, that pre-
served in the Book of Leinster, ends differently, and even more
1 " Och ! da gcluinfeadh sise anocht
Naoise bheith fa bhrat i gcre,
Do ghoilfeadh sise go beacht,
Acht do ijhoilfinn-se fa seacht le."
DEIRDRE 317
tragically. On the death of Naoise, who is slain the moment
he appears on the lawn of Emania, Deirdre is taken, her
hands are bound behind her back and she is given over to
Conor.
" Deirdre was for a year in Conor's couch, and during that year
she neither smiled nor laughed nor took sufficiency of food, drink,
or sleep, nor did she raise her head from her knee. When they
used to bring the musicians to her house she would utter rhapsody —
" ' Lament ye the mighty warriors
Assassinated in Emania on coming,' etc.
When Conor would be endeavouring to sooth her, it was then she
vvoyld utter this dirge —
" ' That which was most beauteous to me beneath the sky,
And which was most lovely to me,
Thou hast taken from me — great the anguish —
I shall not get healed of it to my death,' etc.
" ' What is it you see that you hate most ? ' said Conor.
" ' Thou thyself and Eoghan [Owen] son of Duthrecht,' r said she.
" ' Thou shalt be a year in Owen's couch then,' said Conor. Conor
then gave her over to Owen.
"They drove the next day to the assembly at Muirtheimhne. She
was behind Owen in a chariot. She looked towards the earth that
she might not see her two gallants.
" ' Well, Deirdre,' said Conor, ' it is the glance of a ewe between
two rams you cast between me and Owen.'
" There was a large rock near. She hurled her head at the stone,
so that she broke her skull and was dead.
" This is the exile of the sons of Usnach and the cause of the exile
of Fergus and of the death of Deirdre."
to 1
It was in consequence of Conor's treachery in slaying the
sons of Usnach while under Fergus's protection .that this
warrior turned against his king, burnt Emania, and then seceded
into Connacht to Oilioll [Ulyul] and Meve, king and queen
of that province, where he took service with about fifteen
hundred Ultonians who, indignant at Conor, seceded along with
him. " It was he," says Keating, summing up the substance or
1 Who had slain Naoise at Conor's bidding, in the older version.
31S LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
the sagas, u who carried off" the great spoils from Ulster whence
came so many wars and enmities between the people of Con-
nacht and Ulster, so that the exiles who went from Ulster
into banishment with Fergus continued seven, or as some say,
ten years in Connacht, during which time they kept constantly
spoiling, destroying and plundering the Ultonians, on account
of the murder of the sons of Usnach. And the Ultonians in
like manner wreaked vengeance upon them, and upon the
people of Connacht, and made reprisals for the booty which
Fergus had carried off, and for every other evil inflicted upon
them by the exiles and by the Connacht men, insomuch that
the losses and injuries sustained on both sides were so numerous
that whole volumes have been written upon them, which
would be too long to mention or take notice of at present."
It was with the assistance of Fergus and the other exiles
that Meve undertook her famous expedition into Ulster, of
which we must now speak.
CHAPTER XXVI
THE TAIN BO CHUAILGNE
The greatest of the heroic sagas and the longest is that which
is called the Tain Bo Chuailgne, 1 or "Cattle-Raid of Cooley,"
a district of Ulster contained in the present county of Louth,
into which Oilioll and Meadhbh [Meve], the king and queen of
Connacht, led an enormous army composed of men from the
four other provinces, to carry off the celebrated Dun Bull of
Cooley.
Although there is a great deal of verbiage and piling-up of
rather barren names in this piece, nevertheless there are also
several finely conceived and well-executed incidents. The
saga which, according to Zimmer, was probably first committed
to writing in the seventh or eighth century, is partially pre-
served in the Leabhar na h-Uidhre, a manuscript made about
the year noo, and there is a complete copy of it in the Book
of Leinster made about fifty years later. I have chiefly trans-
lated from a more modern text in my own possession, which
differs very slightly from the ancient ones.
The story opens with a conversation between Meve, queen
of Connacht, and Oilioll her husband, which ends in a dispute
as to which of them is the richest. There was no modern
Married Women's Property Act in force, but Irish ladies
1 Pronounced "Taun Bo Hooiln'ya."
319
320 LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
seem to have been at all times much more sympathetically
treated bv the Celtic tribes than by the harder and more stern
races of Teutonic and Northern blood, and Irish damsels seem
to have been free to enjoy their own property and dowries. 1
The story, then, begins with this dispute as to which, husband
or wife, is the richer in this world's goods, and the argument
at last becomes so heated that the pair decide to have all their
possessions brought together to compare them one with another
and judge by actual observation which is the most valuable.
They collected accordingly jewels, bracelets, metal, gold, silver,
flocks, herds, ornaments, etc., and found that in point of wealth
they were much the same, but that there was one great bull called
Finn-bheannach or White-horned, who was really calved by one
of Meve's cows, but being endowed with a certain amount of
intelligence considered it disgraceful to be under a woman, and
so had gone over to Oilioll's herds. With him Meve had
nothing that could compare. She made inquiry, however, and
found out from her chief courier that there was in the district
of Cuailgne in Louth (Meve lived at Rathcroghan in Ros-
common) a most celebrated bull called the Dun Bull of Cuailgne
belonging to a chieftain of the name of Dare. To him
accordingly she sends an embassy requesting the loan of the
bull for one year, and promising fifty heifers in return. Dare
was quite willing, and promised to lend the animal. He was
in fact pleased, and treated the embassy generously, giving them
good lodgings with plenty of food and drink — too much drink
in fact. The fate of nations is said to often hang upon a
thread. On this occasion that of Ulster and Connacht de-
pended upon a drop more or less, absorbed by one of the ten
men who constituted Meve's embassy. This man un-
fortunately passed the just limit, and Dare's steward coming in
at the moment heard him say that it was small thanks to his
1 Yet in the Brehon law a woman is valued at only the seventh part
of a man, three cows instead of twenty-one ; but if she is young and hand-
some she has her additional " honour price."
THE TAIN BO CHUAILGNE 321
master to give his bull " for if he hadn't given it we'd have
taken it." That word decided the fate of provinces. The
steward, indignant at such an outrage, ran and told his master,
and Dare swore that now he would lend no bull, and what
was more, but that the ten men were envoys he swore he
would hang them. With indignity they were dismissed, and
returned empty-handed to Meve's boundless indignation. She
in her turn swore she would have the bull in spite of Dare.
She immediately sent out to collect her armies, and invited
Leinster and Munster to join her. She was in fact able
to muster most of the three provinces to march against
Ulster to take the bull from Dare, and in addition she had
Fergus mac Roy and about fifteen hundred Ulster warriors
who had never returned to their homes nor forgiven Conor for
the murder of the sons of Usnach. She crossed the Shannon
at Athlone, and marched on to Kells, within a few miles of
Ulster, and there she pitched her standing camp. She was
accompanied by her husband and her daughter who was the
fairest among women. Her mother had secretly promised her
hand to every leader in her army in order to nerve them to do
their utmost.
At the very beginning Meve is forewarned by a mysterious
female of the slaughter which is to come. She had driven
round in her chariot to visit her druid and to inquire of him
what would come of her expedition, and is returning somewhat
reassured in her mind by the druid's promise which was —
" 'Whosoever returneth or returneth not, thou shalt return,' and,"
says the saga, " as Meve returned again upon her track she beheld a
thing which caused her to wonder, a single woman (riding) beside
her, upon the pole of her chariot. And this is how that maiden was.
She was weaving a border with a sword of bright bronze I in
her right hand with its seven rings of red gold, and, about her, a
spotted speckled mantle of green, and a fastening brooch in the
1 " Findruini." See Book of Leinster, f. 42, for the old text of this, but
I am here using a modern copy, not trusting myself to translate accurately
from the old text.
322 LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
mantle over her bosom. A brigjit red gentle generous countenance,
a grey eve visible in her he. id, a thin red mouth, young pearly teeth
she had. You would think that her teeth were a shower of white
pearls Bung into her head. Her mouth was like fresh coral? \_f>ar-
taing]. The melodious address of her voice and her speaking tones
were sweeter than the strings of curved harp being played. Brighter
than the snow of one night was the splendour of her skin showing
through her garments, her feet long, fairy-like, with (well) turned
nails. Fair yellow hair very golden on her. Three tresses of her
hair round her head, one tress behind falling after her to the extre
mities of her ankles.
" Meve looks at her. ' What makest thou there, O maiden ? ' said
Aleve.
" ' Foreseeing thy future for thee, and thy grief, thou who art
gathering the four great provinces of Ireland with thee to the land of
Ulster, to carry out the Tain Bo Chuailgne.'
" ' And wherefore doest thou me this ? " said Meve.
" ' Great reason have I for it,' said the maiden. ' A handmaid of
thy people (am I),' said she.
" ' Who of my people art thou ?' said Meve.
" ' Feithlinn, fairy-prophetess of Rathcroghan, am I,' said she.
" ' It is well, O Feithlinn, prophetess,' said Meve, ' and how scest
thou our hosts ? '
" ' I see crimson over them, I see red,' said she.
" ' Conor is in his sickness x in Emania,' said Meve, ' and messengers
have reached me from him, and there is nothing that I dread from
the Ultonians, but speak thou the truth, O Feithlinn, prophetess,' said
Meve.
" ' I see crimson, I see red,' said she.
" ' Comhsgraidh Meann ... is in Innis Comhsgraidh in his sick-
ness, and my messengers have reached me, and there is nothing that
I fear from the Ultonians, but speak me truth, O Feithlinn, pro-
phetess, how seest thou our host ? '
" ' I see crimson, I see red.'
" ' Celtchar, son of Uitheachar, is in his sickness,' said Meve, 'and
there is nothing I dread from the Ultonians, but speak truth, O
Feithlinn, prophetess.'
" ' I see crimson, I see red,' said she.
"' . . . ?' said Meve, 'for since the men of Erin will be in one place
there will be disputes and fightings and irruptions amongst them,
1 This is the mysterious sickness which seizes upon all the Ultonians at
intervals except Cuchulain. Sec p. 294, note 3.
THE TAIN BO CHUAILGNE 323
about reaching the beginnings or endings of fords or rivers, and
about the first woundings of boars and stags, of venison, or matter of
venery, speak true, O Feithlinn, prophetess, how seest thou our host ?
said Meve.
" ' I see crimson I see red,' said she."
After this follows a long poem, wherein "she foretold
Cuchulain to the men of Erin."
The march of Meve's army is told with much apparent
exactness. The names of fifty-nine places through which it
passed are given ; and many incidents are recorded, one of
which shows the furious, jealous, and vindictive disposition of
the amazon queen herself. She, who seems to have taken upon
herself the entire charge of the hosting, had made in her chariot
the full round of the army at their encamping for the night, to
see that everything was in order. After that she returned to
her own tent and sat beside her husband Olioill at their meal,
and he asks her how fared the troops. Meve then said something
laudatory about the Gaileoin, 1 or ancient Leinstermen, who were
not of Gaelic race, but appear to have belonged to some early
non-Gaelic tribe, cognate with the Firbolg.
" ' What excellence perform they beyond all others that they be
thus praised ? ' said Oilioll.
" ' They give cause for praise,' said Meve, ' for while others were
choosing their camping-ground, they had made their booths and
shelters ; and while others were making their booths and shelters,
they had their feast of meat and ale laid out ; and while others were
laying out their feasts of bread and ale, these had finished their food
and fare ; and while others were finishing their food and fare, these
were asleep. Even as their slaves and servants have excelled the
slaves and servants of the men of Erin, so will their good heroes and
youths excel the good heroes and youths of the men of Erin in this
hosting.'
" ' I am the better pleased at that,' said Oilioll, ' because it was
with me they came, and they are my helpers.' 2
1 For more about the Gaileoin sec p. 598 of Rhys's Hibbert Lectures,
and O Curry, " M. and C," vol. ii. p. 260.
2 They were countrymen of Oilioll's.
324 LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
" ' They shall not march with thee, then,' said Move, 'and it is not
before me, nor to me, they shall be boasted of.'
" ' Then let them remain in camp,' said Oilioll.
"' They shall not do that either,' said Meve.
'"What shall they do, then ?' said Findabar, daughter of Oilioll
and Meve, 'if they shall neither march nor yet remain in camp.'
" ' My will is to iniiict death and fate and destruction on them,'
said Meve."
It is with the greatest difficulty that Fergus is enabled to
calm the furious queen, and she is only satisfied when the
three thousand Gaileoins have been broken up and scattered
throughout the other battalions, so that no five men of them
remained together.
Thereafter the army came to plains so thickly wooded, in
the neighbourhood of the present Kells, that they were obliged
to cut. down the wood with their swords to make a way for
their chariots, and the next night they suffered intolerably
from a fall of snow.
" The snow that fell that night reached to men's legs and to the
wheels of chariots, so that the snow made one plain of the five
provinces of Erin, and the men of Ireland never suffered so much
before in camp, none knew throughout the whole night whether it
was his friend or his enemy who was next him, until the rise early
on the morrow of the clear-shining sun, glancing on the snow that
covered the country."
They are now on the borders of Ulster, and Cuchulain is
hovering on their flank, but no one has yet seen him. He
lops a gnarled tree, writes an Ogam on it, sticks upon it the
heads of three warriors he had slain, and sets it up on the brink
of a ford. That night Oilioll and Meve inquire from the
Ultonians who were in her army more particulars about this
new enemy, and nearly a sixth part of the whole Tain is
taken up by the stories which are then and there related
about Cuchulain's earliest history and exploits, first by
Fergus, and, when he is done relating, by Cormac Conlingeas,
THE TAIN BO CHUAILGNE 325
and when he has finished, by Fiacha, another Ultonian.
This long digression, which is one of the most interesting
parts of the whole saga, being over, we return to the direct
story.
Cuchulain, who knows every tree and every bush of the
country, still hangs upon Meve's flank, and without showing
himself during the day, he slays a hundred men with his sling x
every night.
Meve, through an envoy, asks for a meeting with him, and
is astonished to find him, as she thinks, a mere boy. She offers
him great rewards in the hope of buying him off, but he will
have none of her gold. The only conditions upon which he
will cease his night-slaying is if Meve will promise to let
him fight with some warrior every day at the ford, and will
promise to keep her army in its camp while these single
combats last, and this Meve consents to, since she says it is
better to lose one warrior every day than one hundred every
night.
A great number of single combats then take place, each of
which is described at length. One curious incident is that
of the war-goddess, whom he had previously offended, the
Mor-rigu, 2 or " great queen," attacking him while fighting
with the warrior Loich. She came against him, not in her
own figure, but as a great black eel in the water, who wound
itself around his legs, and as he stooped to disengage himself
Loich wounded him severely in the breast. Again she came
against him in the form of a great grey wolf-bitch, and as
Cuchulain turned to drive her off he was again wounded. A
third time she came against him as a heifer with fifty other
heifers round her, but Cuchulain struck her and broke one of
her eyes, just as Diomede in the Iliad wounds the goddess
1 Crann-tabhail ; it is doubtful what kind of missile weapon this really
was. It was certainly of the nature of a sling, but was partly composed
of wood.
2 Sec above, p. 54 and 291. Rigu is the old form of rioghdn.
3 26 LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
Cypris when she appears against him. 1 Cuchulain, thus
embarrassed, only rids himself of Loich by having recourse to
the mysterious feat of the Gae-Bolg 3 about which we shall
hear more later on. His opponent, feeling himself mortally
hurt, cries out —
" ' By thy love of generosity I crave a boon.'
" ' What boon is that ? ' said Cuchulain.
" * It is not to spare me I ask,' said Loich, ' but let me fall forwards
to the east, and not backward to the west, that none of the men of
Erin may say that I fell in panic or in flight before thee.'
" ' I grant it,' said Cuchulain, ' for surely it is a warrior's request.' "
After this encounter Cuchulain grew terribly despondent,
and urged his charioteer Laeg again to hasten the men of
Ulster to his assistance, but their pains were still upon them,
and he is left alone to bear the brunt of the attack as best he
may. Meve also breaks her compact by sending six men
against him, but them he overcomes, and in revenge begins
again to slay at night.
Thereafter follows the episode known in Irish saga as the
Great Breach of Moy Muirtheimhne. Cuchulain, driven to
despair and enfeebled by wounds, fatigue, and watching, was
in the act of ascending his chariot to advance alone against the
men of the four provinces, moving to certain death, when the
1 " 6 06 KvTTpLl' tTTOJXZTO Vi]\si %«X/C(p,
Yiyvo)(Ti;wv or olvoKkiq h)v OeoQ, ovde Oedivv
Tclojv ai r'dvdpisJv 7r6\e/xov Kara icoipavkovaiv,
Our' dp' 'A9r]vah], ovrs TTToX'nropQoQ 'Evvio.
'AXX ore Srj p' 'e/et';\;ai/e ttoXvv kclB' ofiiXov oird'CoJVf
'Ei>9' tirop^ajXEvog., /xeyaOufjiov TvSkog vlbg
"AKpt]v ovracre X^P a > f*£Td\f.iEvoc; b^'H dovpi
' Afi\r]xpvv. elOap Se d6pv %pobq dvrerop^aev,
'Afifipoaiov cid 7re7r\ov, uv ui XdpLrsg ku/jlov avrat,
UpuiJ.7>i)v vTzip Q'tvapoq' pee b'dfii3poTov a'tfia Oeolo
'i^oj/o, oioc 7TtjO re peei ftaicdpEcrm Oeolaiv."
Iliad, v. 330.
A better instance except for the sex is where he afterwards wounds
Arcs. [See v. 855.)
THE TAIN BO CHUAILGNE 327
eye of his charioteer is arrested by the figure of a tall stranger
moving through the camp of the enemy, saluting none as he
moved, and by none saluted.
" That man," said Cuchulain, " must be one of my super-
natural friends of the shee x folk, and they salute him not
because he is not seen."
The stranger approaches, and, addressing Cuchulain, desires
him to sleep for three days and three nights, and instantly
Cuchulain fell asleep, for he had been from before the feast
of Samhain till after Feil Bhrighde 2 without sleep, "unless
it were that he might sleep a little while beside his spear,
in the middle of the day, his head on his hand, and his hand
on his spear, and his spear on his knee, but all the while
slaughtering, slaying, preying on, and destroying, the four
great provinces."
It was after this long sleep of Cuchulain's that, awaking
fresh and strong, the Berserk rage fell upon him. He hurled
himself against the men of Erin, he drove round their flank,
he " gave his chariot the heavy turn, so that the iron wheels
of the chariot sank into the earth, so that the track of the
iron wheels was (in itself) a sufficient fortification, for like a
fortification the stones and pillars and flags and sands of the
earth rose back high on every side round the wheels." All
that day, refreshed by his three days' sleep, he slaughtered the
men of Erin.
Other single combats take place after this, in one of which
the druid Cailitin and his twenty sons would have slain him
had he not been rescued by his countryman Fiacha, one of
those Ultonians who with Fergus had turned against their king
and country when the children of Usnach were slain.
It was only at the last that his own friend Ferdiad was
despatched against him, through the wiles of Meve. Ferdiad
1 In Irish, sidh. The stranger is really Cuchulain's divine father.
2 This is incredible, for the sickness of the Ultonians could not have
endured so lone.
328 LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
was not a Gael, but of the Firbolg or Firdomhnan race, 1 yet
he proved very nearly a match for Cuchulain. Knowing what
Meve wanted with him, he positively refused to come to her
tent when sent for, and in the end he is only persuaded by her
sending her druids and ollavs against him, who threatened
" to criticise, satirise, and blemish him, so that they would
raise three blisters 2 on his face unless he came with them." At
last he went with them in despair, " because he thought it
easier to fall by valour and championship and weapons than to
fall by [druids'] wisdom and by reproach."
The fight with Ferdiad is perhaps the finest episode in the
Tain. The following is a description of the conduct of the
warriors after the first day's conflict.
\
THE FIGHT AT THE FORD. 3
" They ceased fighting and threw their weapons away from them
into the hands of their charioteers. Each of them approached the
other forthwith and each put his hand round the other's neck and
gave him three kisses. Their horses were in the same paddock that
night, and their charioteers at the same fire ; and their charioteers
spread beds of green rushes for them with wounded men's pillows
1 The prominence given to and the laudatory comments on the non-
Gaelic or non-Milesian races, such as the Gaileoins and Firbolg in this
saga is very remarkable. It seems to me a proof of antiquity, because in
later times these races were not prominent.
2 These are the three blisters mentioned in Cormac's Glossary under
the word gaire. Nede satirises — wrongfully — his uncle Caier, king of
Connacht ; " Caier arose next morning early and went to the well. He
put his hand over his countenance, he found on his face three blisters
which the satire had caused, namely, Stain, Blemish, and Defect [on,
anim, ciisbaidh"], to wit, red and green and white."
3 I give here, for the most part, the translation given by Sullivan in his
Addenda to O'Curry's "Manners and Customs," but it is an exceedingly
faulty and defective one from a linguistic point of view. However, even
though some words may be mistranslated or their sense mistaken, it is
immaterial here. Windisch is said to have finished a complete translation
of the Tain, but it has not as yet appeared anywhere. Max Netlau has
studied the texts of the Ferdiad episode in vols. x. and xi. of the " Revue
Celtique."
THE TAIN BO CHUAILGNE 329
to them. The professors of healing and curing came to heal and
cure them, and they applied herbs and plants of healing and curing
to their stabs, and their cuts, and their gashes, and to all their
wounds. Of every herb and of every healing and curing plant that
was put to the stabs and cuts and gashes, and to all the wounds of
Cuchulain, he would send an equal portion from him, westward
over the ford to Ferdiad, so that the men of Erin might not be able
to say, should Ferdiad fall by him, that it was by better means of
cure that he was enabled to kill him.
" Of each kind of food and of palatable pleasant intoxicating
drink that was sent by the men of Erin to Ferdiad, he would send a
fair moiety over the ford northwards to Cuchulain, because the
purveyors of Ferdiad were more numerous than the purveyors of
Cuchulain. All the men of Erin were purveyors to Ferdiad for
beating off Cuchulain from them, but the Bregians only were
purveyors to Cuchulain, and they used to come to converse with
him at dusk every night. They rested there that night."
The narrator goes on to describe the next day's fighting,
which was carried on from their chariots " with their great
broad spears," and which left them both in such evil plight
that the professors of healing and curing " could do nothing
more for them, because of the dangerous severity of their
stabs and their cuts and their gashes and their numerous
wounds, than to apply witchcraft and incantations and charms
to them to staunch their blood and their bleeding and their
gory wounds."
Their meeting on the next day follows thus : —
"They arose early the next morning and came forward to the
ford of battle, and Cuchulain perceived an ill-visaged and a greatly
lowering cloud on Ferdiad that day.
" ' Badly dost thou appear to-day, O Ferdiad,' said Cuchulain,
' thy hair has become dark this day and thine eye has become
drowsy, and thine own form and features and appearance have
departed from thee.'
" ' It is not from fear or terror of thee that I am so this day,' said
Ferdiad, 'for there is not in Erin this day a champion that I could
not subdue.'
" And Cuchulain was complaining and bemoaning and he spake
these words, and Ferdiad answered :
330 LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
GUCHULAIN.
Oh, Ferdiad, is il thou ?
Wretched man thou art I trow,
By a guileful woman won
To hurt thine old companion.
Ferdiad.
O Cuchulain, fierce of fight,
Man of wounds and man of might,
Fate compelleth each to stir
Moving towards his sepulchre." 1
The lay is then given, each of the heroes reciting a verse in
turn, and it is very possibly upon these lays that the prose
narrative is built up. The third day's fighting is then
described in which the warriors use their " heavy hand-
smiting swords," or rather swords that gave " blows of
size. " 2 The story then continues —
"They cast away their weapons from them into the hands of
their charioteers, and though it had been the meeting pleasant and
happy, griefless and spirited of two men that morning, it was the
separation, mournful, sorrowful, dispirited, of the two men that
night.
" Their horses were not in the same enclosure that night. Their
charioteers were not at the same fire. They rested that night
there.
" Then Ferdiad arose early next morning and went forwards alone
to the ford of battle, for knew that that day would decide the battle
and the fight, and he knew that one of them would fall on that day
there or that they both would fall.
• . • • • •
" Ferdiad displayed many noble, wonderful, varied feats on high
that day, which he never learned with any other person, neither
with Scathach, nor with Uathach, nor with Aife, but which were
invented by himself that day against Cuchulain.
"Cuchulain came to the ford and he saw the noble, varied,
wonderful, numerous feats which Ferdiad displays on high.
1 This is the metre of the original. The last lines are literally, " A man
is constrained to come unto the sod where his final grave shall be." The
metre of the last line is wrong in the Book of Leinster,
3 Tortbullech =toirt-bhuilleach.
THE TAIN BO CHUAILGNE 331
" ' I perceive these, my friend, Laeg ' [said Cuchulain to his
charioteer], ' the noble, varied, wonderful, numerous feats which
Ferdiad displays on high, and all these feats will be tried on me in
succession, and, therefore, it is that if it be I who shall begin to
yield this day thou art to excite, reproach, and speak evil to me, so
that the ire of my rage and anger shall grow the more on me. If it
be I who prevail, then thou shalt laud me, and praise me, and speak
good words to me that my courage may be greater.' T
" ' It shall so be done indeed, O Cuchulain,' said Laeg.
" And it was then Cuchulain put his battle-suit of conflict and of
combat and of fight on him, and he displayed noble, varied, wonder-
ful, numerous feats on high on that day, that he never learned from
anybody else, neither with Scathach, nor with Uathach, nor with
Aife. Ferdiad saw those feats and he knew they would be plied
against him in succession.
" ' What weapons shall we resort to, O Ferdiad ? ' said Cuchulain.
" ' To thee belongs thy choice of weapons till night,' said Ferdiad.
" ■ Let us try the Ford Feat then,' said Cuchulain.
" ' Let us indeed,' said Ferdiad. Although Ferdiad thus spoke his
consent it was a cause of grief to him to speak so, because he knew
that Cuchulain was used to destroy every hero and every champion
who contended with him in the Feat of the Ford.
" Great was the deed, now, that was performed on that day at the
ford — the two heroes, the two warriors, the two champions of
Western Europe, the two gift and present and stipend bestowing
hands of the north-west of the world ; the two beloved pillars of the
valour of the Gaels, and the two keys of the bravery of the Gaels to
be brought to light from afar through the instigation and inter-
meddling of Oilioll and Meve.
" Each of them began to shoot at other with their missive weapons
from the dawn of early morning till the middle of midday. And
when midday came the ire of the men waxed more furious, and
each of them drew nearer to the other. And then it was that Cuchu-
lain on one occasion sprang from the brink of the ford and came on
the boss of the shield of Ferdiad, son of Daman, for the purpose of
striking his head over the rim of his shield from above. And it was
then that Ferdiad gave the shield a blow of his left elbow and cast
1 A common trait even in the modern Gaelic tales, as in the story of
Iollan, son of the king of Spain, whose sweetheart urges him to the battle
by chanting his pedigree ; and in Campbell's story of Conall Gulban,
where the daughter of the King of Lochlann urges her bard to exhort
her champion in the fight lest he may be defeated, and to give him
" Brosnachadh file fir-ghlic," i.e., the urging of a truly wise poet.
332 LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
Cuchulain from him like a bird on the brink of the ford. Cuchulain
sprang from the brink of the ford again till he came on the boss of
the shield of Ferdiad, son of Daman, for the purpose of striking his
head over the rim of the shield from above. Ferdiad gave the shield
a stroke of his left knee and cast Cuchulain from him like a little
child on the brink of the ford.
"Laeg [his charioteer] perceived that act. 'Alas, indeed,' said
Laeg, ' the warrior who is against thee casts thee away as a lewd
woman would cast her child. He throws thee as foam is thrown by
the river. He grinds thee as a mill would grind fresh malt. He
pierces thee as the felling axe would pierce the oak. He binds thee
as the woodbine binds the tree. He darts on thee as the hawk darts
on small birds, so that henceforth thou hast nor call nor right nor
claim to valour or bravery to the end of time and life, thou little
fairy phantom,' said Laeg.
" Then up sprang Cuchulain with the rapidity of the wind and with
the readiness of the swallow, and with the fierceness of the dragon
and the strength of the lion into the troubled clouds of the air the
third time, and he alighted on the boss of the shield of Ferdiad, son
of Daman to endeavour to strike his head over the rim of his shield
from above. And then it was the warrior gave the shield a shake,
and cast Cuchulain from him into the middle of the ford, the same
as if he had never been cast off at all.
" And it was then that Cuchulain's first distortion came on, and he
was filled with swelling and great fulness, like breath in a bladder,
until he became a terrible, fearful, many-coloured, wonderful Tuaig,
and he became as big as a Fomor, or a man of the sea, the great and
valiant champion, in perfect height over Ferdiad. 1
" So close was the fight they made now that their heads met above
and their feet below and their arms in the middle over the rims and
bosses of their shields. So close was the fight they made that they
cleft and loosened their shields from their rims to their centres. So
close was the fight which they made that they turned and bent and
shivered their spears from their points to their hafts. Such was the
closeness of the fight which they made that the Bocanachs and
Bananachs, and wild people of the glens, and demons of the air
screamed from the rims of their shields and from the hilts of their
swords and from the hafts of their spears. Such was the closeness of
the fight which they made that they cast the river out of its bed and
out of its course, so that it might have been a reclining and reposing
couch for a king or for a queen in the middle of the ford, so that
1 Compare this with the Berserker rage of the Northmen.
THE TAIN BO CHUAILGNE 333
there was not a drop of water * in it unless it dropped into it by the
trampling and the hewing which the two champions and the two
heroes made in the middle of the ford. Such was the intensity of
the fight which they made that the stud of the Gaels darted away in
fright and shyness, with fury and madness, breaking their chains and
their yokes, their ropes and their traces, and that the women and
youths, and small people, and camp followers, and non-combatants of
the men of Erin broke out of the camp south-westwards.
" They were at the edge-feat of swords during the time. And it
was then that Ferdiad found an unguarded moment upon Cuchulain,
and he gave him a stroke of the straight-edged sword, and buried it
in his body until his blood fell into his girdle, until the ford became
reddened with the gore from the body of the battle-warrior.
Cuchulain would not endure this, for Ferdiad continued his
unguarded stout strokes, and his quick strokes and his tremendous
great blows at him. And he asked Laeg, son of Riangabhra, for the
Gae Bulg. The manner of that was this : it used to be set down the
stream and cast from between the toes \lit. in the cleft of the foot],
it made the wound of one spear in entering the body, but it had
thirty barbs to open, and could not be drawn out of a person's
body until it was cut open. And when Ferdiad heard the Gae Bulg
mentioned he made a stroke of the shield down to protect his lower
body. Cuchulain thrust the unerring thorny spear off the centre of
his palm over the rim of the shield, and through the breast of the
skin-protecting armour, so that its further half was visible after
piercing his heart in his body. Ferdiad gave a stroke of his shield
up to protect the upper part of his body, though it was ' the relief
after the danger.' The servant set the Gae Bulg down the stream
and Cuchulain caught it between the toes of his foot, and he threw
an unerring cast of it at Ferdiad till it passed through the firm deep
iron waistpiece of wrought iron and broke the great stone which
was as large as a millstone in three, and passed through the protec-
tions of his body into him, so that every crevice and every cavity of
him was filled with its barbs.
" ' That is enough now, indeed,' said Ferdiad, ' I fall of that.
Now indeed may I say that I am sickly after thee, and not by thy
hand should I have fallen,' and he said [here follow some verses] ....
" Cuchulain ran towards him after that, and clasped his two arms
about him and lifted him with his arms and his armour and his
clothes across the ford northward, in order that the slain should lie
1 Cf. the common Gaelic folk-lore formula, " they would make soft of
the hard and hard of the soft, and bring cold springs of fresh water out of
the hard rock with their wrestling."
&4 LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
by the ford on the north, and not by the ford on the west with the
men of Erin.
" Cuchulain [aid Ferdiad down there, and a trance and a faint and
a weakness fell then on Cuchulain over Ferdiad.
"'Good, O Cuchulain,' said Laeg, 'rise up now for the men of
Erin are coming upon us, and it is not single combat they will give
thee since Ferdiad, son of Daman, son of Dare, has fallen by thee.'
" ' Servant,' said he, 'what availeth me to arise after him that hath
fallen by me.' "
Cuchulain is carried away swooning after this fight and is
brought by the two sons of Geadh to the streams and rivers to
be cured of his stabs and wounds, by plunging him in the
waters and facing him against the currents, " for the Tuatha
De Danann sent plants of grace and herbs of healing (floating)
down the streams and rivers of Muirtheimhne, to comfort and
help Cuchulain, so that the streams were speckled and green
overhead with them." The Finglas, the Bush, the Douglas,
and eighteen other rivers are mentioned as aiding to cure
him.
During the period of Cuchulain's leeching many events were
happening in Meve's camp, amongst others the tragic death of
her beautiful daughter, Finnabra. 1 Isolated bands of the men
of Ulster were now beginning to at last muster in front of
Meve, and amongst them came a certain northern chief, who
was, as her daughter secretly confessed to Meve, her own love
and sweetheart beyond all the men of Erin.
The prudent Meve immediately desires her to go to him, if
he is her lover, and do everything in her power to make him
draw off his warriors. This design, however, got abroad, and
came to the ears of the twelve Munster princes who led the
forces of the southern province in Meve's army. These
gradually make the discovery that the astute queen had
secretly promised her daughter's hand to each one of the
twelve, as an inducement to him to take part in her expedition.
Infuriated at being thus trifled with and at Meve's treachery
1 Or Findabar, the fair-eyebrowed one.
THE TAIN BO CHUAILGNE 335
in now sending her daughter to the Ultonian, they fall with
all their forces upon the queen's battalion and the whole camp
becomes a scene of blood and confusion. The warrior Fergus
at last succeeds in separating the combatants, not before seven
hundred men have fallen. But when Finnabra saw the
slaughter that was raging, of which she herself was cause,
"a blood-torrent burst from her heart in her bosom through
(mingled) shame and generosity," and she was taken up dead.
In the meantime Cuchulain is joined by another great
Ultonian warrior, who is also being leeched. He had fallen
upon the men of Erin single-handed, and received many
wounds, one from Meve herself, who fought, like Boadicea,
at the head of her troops. He describes the amazon who
wounded him to Cuchulain —
" A largely-nurtured, white-faced, long-cheeked woman, with a
yellow mane on the top of her two shoulders, with a shirt of royal
silk over her white skin, and a speckled spear red-flaming in her
hand ; it was she who gave me this wound, and I gave her another
small wound in exchange.
" ' I know that woman,' said Cuchulain, ' that woman was Meve,
and it had been glory and exultation to her had you fallen by her
hand/ "
Afterwards Sualtach, father of Cuchulain, heard the groans
of his son as he was being cured, and said, " Is it heaven that
is bursting, or the sea that is retiring, or the land that is
loosening, or is it the groan of my son in his extremity that I
hear ? " said he, Cuchulain despatches him to urge the
Ultonians to his assistance. " Tell them how you found me,"
he said ; " there is not the place of the point of a needle in
me from head to foot without a wound, there is not a hair
upon my body without a dew of crimson blood upon the top
of every point, except my left hand alone that was holding my
shield."'
And now the Ultonians begin to rally and face the men of
Erin. Troops are seen to pour in from every quarter of
:>:>
6 LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
Ulster, gathering upon the plains of Meath for the great battle
that was impending. Meve sends out her trusted messenger
to bring word of what is going on amongst the hostile bands.
His first report is that the noise of the Ultonians hewing down
the woods before their chariots with the edge of their swords
was "like nothing but as it were the solid firmament fallinir
upon the surface-face of the earth, or as it were the sky-blue
sea pouring over the superficies of the plain, as it were the
earth being rent asunder, or the forests falling [each tree] into
the grasp and fork of the other."
Mac Roth, the chief messenger, is again sent out to observe
the gathering of the hosts and to bring word of what bands are
coming in to the hill where Conor, king of Ulster, has set up
his standard. On his return at nightfall there follows a long,
minute, and tedious account, something like the list of ships in
the Iliad, only broken by the questions of Meve and Oilioll,
and the answers of Fergus. It contains, however, some pas-
sages of interest. The scout describes the arrival of twenty-
nine different armaments around their respective chiefs at the
hill where King Conor is encamping. Incidentally he gives
us descriptions of characters of interest in the Saga-cycle. As
he ends his description of each band and its leaders, Oilioll
turns to Fergus, and Fergus from Mac Roth's description
recognises and tells him who the various leaders are. In this
way we get a glimpse at Sencha, the wise man, the Nestor of
the Red Branch, whose counsel was ever good. " That man,"
said Fergus, " is the speaker and peace-maker of the host of
Ulster, and I pledge my word that it is no cowardly or
unheroic counsel which that man will give to his lord this day,
but counsel of vigour and valour and fight." We see the
arrival of Feirceirtne, the arch-ollav of the Ultonians, or
Cathbadh the Druid, he who had prophesied of Deirdre at her
birth, who was supposed, according to the earliest accounts, to
have been the real father of King Conor, he who weakened
the children of Usnach by his spells ; and we see also Aithirne,
THE TAIN BO CHUAILGNE 337
the infamous and overbearing poet of the Ultonians, about
whom much is related in other tales. " The lakes and rivers,"
said Fergus, "recede before him when he satirises them, and
rise up before him when he praises them." " There are not
many men in life, more handsome or more golden-locked than
he," said Mac Roth, " he bears a gleaming ivory [-hiked]
sword in his right hand." With this sword he amuses him-
self, something like the Norman trouvere Taillefer at the battle
of Hastings, by casting it aloft and letting it fall almost on the
heads of his companions but without hurting them. The
arch-druid is described as having scattered whitish-grey hair,
and wearing a purple-blue mantle with a large gleaming
shield and bosses of red brass, and a long iron sword of foreign
look. Conor's leech, Finghin, led a band of physicians to the
field ; " that man could tell," said Fergus, " what a person's
sickness is by looking at the smoke of the house in which he
is." Another hero whom we catch a glimpse of is the mighty
Conall Cearnach, the greatest champion of the north, whose
name was till lately a household word around Dunsevrick, he
who afterwards so bloodily avenged Cuchulain's death, " the
sea over seas, the bursting rock, the furious troubler of hosts,"
as Fergus calls him.
We also see the youth Ere, son of Cairbre Niafer the
High-king, who comes from Tara to assist his grandfather
King Conor. It is curious, however, that in this catalogue
of the Ultonians quite as much space is given to the description
of men whose names are now — so far, at least, as I know —
unknown to us, as to those who often and prominently figure
in our yet remaining stories.
At last the great battle of the Tain comes off, when the men
of Ulster meet the men of Ireland fairly and face to face.
Prodigies of valour are performed on both sides, and Fergus —
who after Cuchulain is certainly the hero of the Tain —
seconded by Oilioll, by Meve, by the Seven Maines, and by
the sons of Magach, drives the Ultonians back on his side of
Y
338 LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
the battle throe times. Conor, who is on the other flank,
perceives that the men of his far wing are being broken, and
loudly
•• he shouts to the Household of the Red Branch, ' hold ye the place
in the battle where I am, till I go find who it is who has thrice
inclined the battle against us on the north.'
" • We take that upon ourselves,' said they, 'for heaven is over us,
and earth is under us, and unless the firmament fall down upon the
wave-face of the earth, or the ocean encircle us, or the ground give
way under us, or the ridgy blue-bordered sea rise over the expanse *
of life, we shall give not one inch of ground before the men of Erin
till thou come to us again, or till we be slain.' "
Conor hastens northward and finds himself confronted by
the man he had so bitterly wronged, whose hand had lain
heavy on his province and himself, Fergus, who now comes
face to face with him after so many years. Tremendous are
the strokes of Fergus.
" He smote his three enemy blows upon Conor's shield 'Eochain'
so that the shield screamed thrice upon him, and the three leading
waves of Erin answered it.
" ' Who,' cries Fergus, ■ holds his shield against me in this battle ?' 3
" ' O Fergus,' cried Conor, ' one who is greater and younger and
handsomer, and more perfect than thyself is here, and whose father
and whose mother were better than thine ; one who slew the three
great candles of the valour of the Gaels, the three prosperous sons
of Usnach, in spite of thy guarantee and thy protection, the man
who banished thee out of thy own land and country, the man who
made of it a dwelling-place for the deer and the roe and the foxes,
the man who never left thee as much as the breadth of thy foot of
territory in Ulster, the man who drove thee to the entertainment of
women, 3 and the man who will drive thee back this day in the
presence of the men of Erin, [I] Conor, son of Fachtna Fathach,
High-king of Ulster, and son of the High-king of Ireland."
Despite this boasting he would certainly have been slain by
his great opponent had not one of his sons clasped his arms in
1 "Tulmuing." Seep. 7.
2 I do not think this is rightly translated, but the passage is obscure tome.
3 Alluding to Fergus serving with Queen Meve.
THE TAIN BO CHUAILGNE 339
supplication around Fergus's knees and conjured him not to
destroy Ulster, and Fergus, melted by these entreaties, con-
sented to remain passive if Conor retired to the other wing of
the battle, which he did.
In the meantime Meve had sent away the Dun Bull with
fifty heifers round him and eight men, to drive him to her
palace in Connacht, " so that whoever reached Cruachan
alive, or did not reach it, the Dun Bull of Cuailgne should
reach it as she had promised.'"
Cuchulain, who had joined the Ultonians, and whose arms
had been taken from him, lest in his enfeebled condition he
should injure himself by taking part in the fray, unable to
bear any longer the look of the battle, the shouting and the
war-cries, rushes into the fight with part of his broken chariot
for a weapon, and performs mighty feats. At length he ceases
to slay at Meve's solicitation, whose life he spares, and the
shattered remnants of her host begin slowly to withdraw
across the ford. " Oilioll draws his shield of protection behind
the host [/.*., covers the rear], Meve draws her shield of
protection in her own place, Fergus draws his shield of pro-
tection, the Maines draw their shield of protection, the sons
of Magach draw their shield of protection behind the host ;
and in this manner they brought with them the men of Erin
across the great ford westward," nor did they cease their retreat
till Meve and her army found themselves at Cruachan in
Connacht, whence they had set out.
The long saga ends with a decided anti-climax, the encounter
between the Dun Bull, whom Meve had carried off, and her
own bull, the White-Horned. 1 These bulls, according to one
1 The Finnbheannach, pronounced " Fin-van-ach." Both the bulls were
endowed with intelligence. One of the virtues of the Dun Bull was that
neither Bocanachs nor Bananachs nor demons of the glens could come
into one cantred to him. There emanated from him, too, when returning
home every evening, a mysterious music, so that the men of the cantred
where he was, required no other music. The war-goddess herself, the
Mor-rigu, speaks to him.
340 LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
of the most curious of the short auxiliary sagas to the Tain,
were really rebirths of two men who hated each other during
life, and now fought it out in the form of bulls. When they
caught sight of each other they pawed the earth so furiously
that they sent the sods flying across their shoulders, " they
rolled the eyes in their heads like flames of fiery lightning.' ,
All day long they charged, and thrust, and struggled, and
bellowed, while the men of Ireland looked on, " but when the
night came they could do nothing but be listening to the noises
and the sounds." The two bulls traversed much of Ireland
during that night. 1 Next morning the people of Cruachan
saw the Dun Bull coming with the remains of his enemy upon
his horns. The men of Connacht would have intercepted
him, but Fergus, ever generous, swore with a great oath that
all that had been done in the pursuit of the Tain was nothing
to what he would do if the Dun Bull were not allowed to
return to his own country with his kill. The Dun made
straight for his home at Cuailgne in Louth. He drank of the
Shannon at Athlone, and as he stooped one of his enemy's loins
fell off from his horn, hence Ath-luain, the Ford of the Loin.
After that he rushed, mad with passion, towards his home,
killing every one who crossed his way. Arrived there, he set
his back to a hill and uttered wild bellowings of triumph,
until " his heart in his breast burst, and he poured his heart in
black mountains of brown blood out across his mouth."
Thus far the Tain Bo Chuailgne.
1 Every place in Ireland, says the saga, that is called Cluain-na-dtarbh,
Magh-na-dtarbh, Bearna-na-dtarbh, Druim-na-dtarbh, Loch-na-dtarbh, i.e.,
the Bull's meadow, plain, gap, ridge, lake, etc., has its name from them !
CHAPTER XXVII
THE DEATH OF CUCHULAIN
Although Cuchulain won for himself in this war an imperish-
able fame, yet he was not destined to enjoy it long, for he
perished before arriving at middle age. 1 The account of his
death is preserved in the Book of Leinster, a manuscript of
the middle of the twelfth century, which quotes incidentally
from an Irish poet 2 of the seventh century, thus showing that
Cuchulain was at this early age the hero of the poets. Un-
fortunately the opening of the story in the Book of Leinster
is lost, but many modern extensions of the saga still exist, from
one of which in my possession I shall supply what is missing.3
Cuchulain had three formidable enemies, who were bent
upon his life, these were Lughaidh [Lewy] the son of the
1 He died at the age of twenty-seven years, according to the Annals of
Tighearnach, and also according to a note in the Book of Ballymote,
which Charles O'Conor of Belinagare identifies as an extract from the
Synchronisms of Flann of Monasterboice, who died in 1056. But an
account in a MS. H. 3. 17, in Trinity College, Dublin, which was copied
about the year 1460, asserts that Cuchulain died in his fifty-ninth year.
1 (Sec O'Curry's MS. Mat., p. 507.)
2 Cennfaelad, son of Ailill.
3 This MS., which contains many of the Cuchulain sagas, was copied
about a hundred years ago by a scribe named Seaghain O'Mathghamhna
I on an island in the Shannon,
m
342 LITERARY ///STORY OF IRELAND
Momonian king Curigh, 1 whom Cuchulain had slain, Ere, the
son of Cairbre Niafer king of all Ireland, who was slain in
the battle of Rosnaree, a and the descendants of the wizard
Calatin, who with his twenty sons and his son-in-law fell by
Cuchulain in one of the combats at the Ford, during the raid of
the Tain. His wife, however, brought into the world three
posthumous children, daughters. 3 These unhappy creatures
Meve mutilated by cutting off their right legs and left arms,
so that they might be odious and horrible, and all the fitter
for the dread profession she proposed for them — evil wizardry.
She reared them carefully, and so soon as they were of a
fitting age she sent them into the world to gain a knowledge
of charms and spells, and druidism, and witchcraft, and incanta-
tions. In pursuit of this knowledge they roamed throughout
the world, and at last returned to the queen as perfect adepts
as might be.
Thereupon she convened a second muster of the men of the
four provinces, and joined by Lewy the son of Curigh, and
Ere the son of Cairbre Niafer, both of whose parents had
fallen by Cuchulain, and having with her the odious but
powerful children of Calatin, eager to avenge the death of
their father and their family, she again marched upon Ulster
1 The older form of this name is Curoi. A detailed account of this saga
is given by Keating. See p. 282 of O'Mahony's edition. The saga is
also told under the title of Aided Conrui, in Egerton 88, British Museum.
2 The saga of the battle of Rosnaree has recently been published with a
translation by Rev. Ed. Hogan, S.J.
3 Some say six children — three daughters and three sons. The MS.
H. i. 8, in Trinity College, which dates from about 1460, according to
O'Curry, relates thus : " And the sons of Cailitin were eight years after
the Tain before they went to pursue their learning, for they were but
infants in cradles at the time their father was killed. Nine years for them
after that pursuing their learning. Seven years after finishing their
learning was spent in making their weapons, because there could be
found but one day in the year to make their spears. And three years
after that did the sons of Cailitin spend in assembling and marching
the men of Erin to Belach Mic Uilc in Magh Muirtheimhne (Cuehulain's
patrimony)."
THE DEATH OF CUCHULAIN 343
during the sickness of their warriors, and began to plunder
and to burn and to drive away a mighty prey. King Conor
immediately surmised that it was against Cuchulain the
expedition was prepared, and without a moment's delay he
depatched Lavarcam his female messenger, to desire him
instantly to leave his palace and his patrimony at Dundealgan I
in the plain of Muirtheimhne, and come to himself at Emania,
there to be under the King's immediate orders. This command
he gave, thinking to rescue Cuchulain from the possible effects
of his own valour and rashness, for there was scarcely a man
of distinction in any of the four provinces of Erin some of
whose relatives had not been slain by him.
Lavarcam found the hero upon the shore, between sea and
land, intent upon the slaying of sea-fowl with his sling, but
though birds many flew over him and past him, not one could
he bring down — they all escaped him. And this was to him
the first bad omen. Very reluctantly did he obey the call of
Conor, and sorely loath was he to leave his patrimony. He
accompanied Lavarcam, however, to Emania, and abode there
in his own bright-lighted crystal grianan. Then Conor con-
sulted with his druids as to how best to keep him there, and
they sent the bright ladies of Emania, and his wife Emer, and
the poets and the musicians, and the men of science, to sur-
round and distract and amuse him, with conversation and
music and banquets.
In the meantime, however, Meve's army had advanced upon
and burned Dundealgan, and the children of Calatin had
promised that within three days and three nights they would
brine; Cuchulain to his doom.
And now ensues what is to my mind one of the most
powerful incidents in all this saga — the malignant ghoulish
efforts of the children of Calatin to draw forth Cuchulain
from his place of safety, and on the other side the anxiety of
the druids and ladies, and the frenzied heart-sick efforts of his
1 Now Dundalk in the County Louth.
544 LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
wife, and his mistress, to detain him. The loathsome wizards
flew through the air and stationed themselves upon the plain
outside Emania —
"They smote the soil and beat and tore it up around them, so that
they made of fuz-balls, and of stalks of sauna, and of the fine foliage
of the oaks, as it were ordered battalions, and hosts, and multitudes
of men, and the confused shoutings of the battalions and of the war-
bands, and the battle array, were heard on all sides, as it were
striking and attacking the fortress."
Geanan the druid, the son of old Cathbadh, was watching
Cuchulain this day. As soon as the sounds of war and shout-
ing reached him Cuchulain rose and "looked forth, and he saw
the battalions smiting each other unsparingly," as he thought,
and he burned at once with fury and shame ; but the druid
cast his two arms round him in time to prevent him from
bursting forth to relieve the apparently foe-beleaguered town.
Over and over again must the druid assure him that all he saw
was blind-work and magic, and unreal phantoms, employed by
the clan Calatin to lure him forth to his destruction. 1 It was
impossible, however, to keep Cuchulain from at least looking,
and, the next time he looked forth,
" he thought he beheld the battalions drawn up upon the plains,
and the next time he looked after that he thought he saw Gradh
son of Lir upon the plain, and it was a gets (tabu) to him to see that,
and then he thought moreover that he heard the harp of the son of
Mangur playing musically, ever-sweetly, and it was a gets to him to
listen to those pleasing fairy sounds, and he recognised from these
things that his virtue was indeed overcome, and that his geasa
(tabus) were broken, and that the end of his career had arrived,
and that his valour and prowess were destroyed by the children of
Calatin."
After that one of the daughters of the wizard Calatin,
1 " Ni bhfuil acht saobh-lucht siabhartha ann sud, sian-sgarrtha duaibh-
siocha draoidheachta do dhealbhadar clann cuirpthe Chailitin go claon-
mhillteach fad' chomhair-se, dod' chealgadh, agus dod' chomh-bhuaidh-
readh, a churaidh chalma chath-bnuadhaigh,"
THE DEATH OF CUCHULAIN 345
assuming the form of a crow, came flying over him and
incited him with taunts to go and rescue his homestead and
his patrimony from the hands of his enemies. And although
Cuchulain now understood that these were enchantments that
were working against him, yet was he none the less anxious
to rush forth and oppose them, for he felt moved and troubled
in himself at the shouting of the imaginary hosts, and his
memory, and his senses, and his right mind were afflicted by
the sounds of that ever-thrilling harp.
Then the druid used all his influence, explaining to him
that if he would only remain for three days more in Emania
the spells would have no power, and he would go forth again,
" and the whole world would be full of his victories and his
lasting renown," and thereafter the ladies of Emania and the
musicians closed round him, and they sang sweet melodies,
and they distracted his mind, and the day drew to a close : —
the clan Calatin retired baffled, and Cuchulain was himself
once more.
During that night the ladies and the druids took council
together and determined to carry him away to a glen so remote
and lonely that it was called the Deaf Valley, and to hide him
there, preparing for him a splendid banquet, with music, and
poets, and delights of every kind.
Next morning came the accursed wizards and inspected the
city, and they marvelled that they saw not Cuchulain, and
that he was neither beside his wife, nor yet amongst the other
heroes of the Red Branch. Then they understood that he
had been hidden away by Cathbadh the druid, "and they
raised themselves aloft, lightly and airily, upon a blast of
enchanted wind, which they created to lift them," and went
soaring over the entire province of Ulster to discover his
retreat. This they do by perceiving Cuchulain's grey steed,
the Liath Macha, standing outside at the entrance to the
glen. Then the three begin their wizardry anew, and made,
as it were, battalions of warriors to appear round the glen,
346 LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
and they raised anew the sounds of arms and the shouts of war
and conflict, as they had done at Emania.
The instant the ladies round Cuchulain heard it they also
shouted, and the musicians struck up — but in vain ; Cuchulain
had caught the sound. They succeeded, however, in calming
his mind, and in inducing him to pay no heed to the false
witcheries of the clan Calatin. These continued for a Ion 2:
time waiting and filling the air with their unreal battle tumult,
but Cuchulain did not appear. Then they understood that
the druids had been more powerful than they. Mad with
impotent fury one of them enters the glen, and pushes her way
right into the very fortress where Cuchulain was feasting.
Once there she changes herself into the form of the beautiful
Niamh [Nee-av], Cuchulain's love and sweetheart. First she
stood at the door in the likeness of an attendant damsel, and
beckoned to the lady to come to her outside. Niamh, think-
ing she has something to communicate, follows her through
the door and out into the valley, and the other ladies follow
Niamh. Instantly she raises an enchanted fog between them
and the dun, so that they wander astray, and their minds are
troubled. But she, assuming the form of the lady Niamh her-
self, slips back into the fortress, comes to Cuchulain, and cries
to him : " Up, O Cuchulain, and meet the men of Erin, or
thy fame shall be lost for ever, and the province shall be
destroyed." At this speech Cuchulain is astounded, for Niamh
had bound him by an oath that he would not go forth or take
arms until she herself should give him leave, and this leave he
never thought to receive or her until the fatal time was over.
" I shall go," said Cuchulain, "and thttt is a pity, O Niamh,"
said he, " and after that it is difficult to trust to woman, for
I had thought thou hadst not given me that leave for the gold
of the world, but since it is thou who dost let me go to face
the men of Erin, I shall go." After that he rose and left the
dun. "I have no reason fcr preserving my life longer," said
Cuchulain, " for the end of my time is come, and all my
THE DEATH OF CUCHULAIN 347
geasa (tabus) are lost, and Niamh has let me go to face the
men of Erin ; and since she has let me, I shall go."
Afterwards the real Niamh overtakes him at the entrance to
the glen, and assured him with torrents of tears, and wild sobs,
that it was not she who had given him leave, but the vile
enchantress who had assumed her form, and she conjured him
with prayers and piteous entreaties to remain with her. But
Cuchulain would not believe her, and urged Laeg to catch his
steeds and yoke them, for he thought that he beheld —
"The great battle-battalions ranged upon the green of Emania,
and the whole plain filled up and crowded with broad bands of
hundreds of men, with champions, and steeds, and arms, and
armour, and he thought he heard the awful shoutings, and [saw]
the burnings extending, widely-let-loose through the buildings
of Conor's city, and him-seemed that there was nor hill nor
rising ground about Emania that was not full of spoils, and it
appeared to him that Emer's sunny-house was overthrown and had
fallen out over the ramparts of Emania, and that the House of the
Red Branch was in one blaze, and that all Emania was one meeting-
place of fire, and of black, dark, spacious, brown-red smoke." *
Then Cuchulain's brooch fell from his hand and pierced his
foot, another omen of ill. Nor would his noble grey war-horse
allow himself to be caught. It was only when Cuchulain
addressed him with persuasive words of verse that he consented
to let himself be harnessed to the chariot, and even then " he
1 Up to this I have followed the version of my own modern manuscript.
From this out, however, the version in the twelfth-century Book of Leinster
is used. Monsieur d'Arbois de Jubainville, in his introduction to the fragment
of the saga in the Book of Leinster, seems to think that Emania was really
besieged, and women and children slaughtered round its walls by the
men of Erin, whereas it wor'd appear that the lost part of the saga refers
to some such version as I have given from my manuscript, and that it was
only the wizardry and sorcery of the children of Calatin, who raised these
phantasms. This is the more evident because Cuchulain, when he issues
forth, meets no enemy until he has arrived at the plain of Muirtheimhne.
Jubainville's words are, " Cependant les cris de douleur des femmes et
des enfants qu'on massacrait jusqu'au pied des remparts d'Emain macha
[Emania] parvinrent a son oreille : on en verra un peu plus bas les conse-
quences, dont la derniere fut la mort du heros."
348 LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
lets fall upon his tore feet, from his eyes, two large tears or
blood." In vain did the ladies of Emania try to bar his
passage, in vain did fifty queens uncover their bosoms before
him in supplication. " He is the first," says the saga, "of
whom it is recounted that women uncovered before him their
bosoms." x
Thereafter another evil omen overtook him, for as he pursued
the high road leading to the south,
" and had passed the plain of Mogna, he perceived something, three
hags of the half-blind race, 2 who were on the track before him cook-
ing a poisoned dog's flesh upon spits of holly. Now it was a geis
(tabu) to Cuchulain to pass a cooking-fire without visiting it and
accepting food. It was another geis to eat of his own name" [i.e., a
hound, he is Cu-Chulain or Culan's hound], "so he pauses not, but
passes the three hags. Then one of them cries to him —
" ■ Come, visit us, Cuchulain.'
" ' I shall not visit you,' said Cuchulain.
" ' There is something to eat here,' replied the hag ; ' we have a
dog to offer thee. If our cooking-place were great,' said she, ' thou
wouldst come, but because it is small thou comest not ; a great man
who despises the small, deserves no honour.'
"Cuchulain then moved over to the hag, and she with her left
hand offered him half the dog. Cuchulain ate, and it was with his
left hand he took the piece, and he placed part of it under his left
thigh, and his left hand and his left thigh were cursed, and the curse
reached all his left side, which from his head to his feet lost a great
part of its power."
At last Cuchulain meets the enemy on his ancestral patri-
mony of Moy Muirtheimhne, drawn up in battle array, with
shield to shield as though it were one solid plank that was
around them. Cuchulain displays his feats from his chariot,
especially "his three thunder-feats — the thunder of an hundred,
the thunder of three hundred, the thunder of thrice nine
men.
1 It was geis, or tabu, to him to behold the exposed breast of a woman.
See above, p. 301.
2 These are in my version the three daughters of Calatin,
THE DEATH OP CUCHULA1N 349
" He played equally with spear, shield, and sword, he performed
all the feats of a warrior. As many as there are of grains of sand in
the sea, of stars in the heaven, of dewdrops in May, of snowflakes
in winter, of hailstones in a storm, of leaves in a forest, of ears of corn
in the plains of Bregia, of sods beneath the feet of the steeds of Erin
on a summer's day, so many halves of heads, and halves of shields, and
halves of hands and halves of feet, so many red bones were scattered
by him throughout the plain of Muirtheimhne, it became grey with
the brains of his enemies, so fierce and furious was Cuchulain's
onslaught."
The plan which Ere, son of the late High-king Cairbre
Niafer had adopted was to place two men pretending to fight
with one another upon each flank of the army and a druid
standing near who should first make Cuchulain separate the
combatants, and should then demand from him his spear, since
there ran a prophecy to the effect that Cuchulain's spear should
kill a king, but if they could get the spear from him they at
least would be safe from the prophecy ; it would not be one of
them who should be slain by it.
Cuchulain separates the fighters as the druid asks him, by
killing each of them with a blow.
" ' You have separated them,' said the druid, ' they shall do each
other no more harm.'
" ' They would not be so silenced,' said Cuchulain, ' hadst thou not
prayed me to interfere between them.'
" ' Give me thy spear, O Cuchulain,' said the druid.
" ' I swear by the oath which my nation swears,' said Cuchulain,
'you have no greater need of the spear than I. All the warriors
of Erin are come together against me, and I must defend myself.'
" ' If thou refuse me,' said the druid, ' I shall solemnly utter against
thee a magic curse.'
" ' Up to this time,' replied Cuchulain, ' no curse has ever been
levelled against me for any act of refusal on my part.' "
And with that he reversed his spear and threw it at the druid
butt foremost, killing him and nine more. Lewy, the son of
Curigh, immediately picked it up.
" ' Whom,' said he to the children of Calatin, 'is this to
overthrow ? '
350 LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
" ' It is a king whom that spear shall slay,' said they.
Lewy hurled it at Cuchulain's chariot, and it pierced Laeg,
his charioteer.
Cuchulain bade his charioteer farewell.
" c To-day,' said Cuchulain, 'I shall he both warrior and
charioteer.
The same incident happens again. Cuchulain kills the second
druid in the same way, and his spear is picked up by Ere.
" ' Children of Calatin,' said Ere, ' what exploit shall this spear
perform ? '
" ' It shall overthrow a king,' said they.
"'You said this spear would overthrow a king when Lewy hurled
it some time ago,' said Ere.
" ' Nor were we deceived,' said they, ' that spear has brought down
the king of the charioteers of Ireland, Laeg, the son of Riangabhra,
Cuchulain's charioteer.' "
Ere hurls the spear and it passes through the side of Cuchu-
lain's noble steed, the Liath Macha. Cuchulain took a fond
farewell of the animal who galloped with half the yoke around
its neck to the lake from whence he had first taken it, on the
mountain of Euad in far-off Armagh.
The third time a druid demands his spear, and is killed by
Cuchulain, who throws it to him handle foremost. The spear
is picked up this time by Lewy son of Curigh.
" f What feat shall this spear perform, ye children of Calatin ? '
said Lewy.
" ' It shall overthrow a king,' said they.
"' Ye said as much when Ere hurled it this morning,' answered
Lewy.
" ' Yes,' answered the children of Calatin, ' and our word was true.
The spear which Ere hurled has wounded mortally the king of the
steeds of Ireland, the Liath Macha.'
" 1 1 swear then,' said Lewy, ' by the oath which my nation swears,
that Erc's blow smote not the king which this spear is to slay.' "
Then Lewy hurls the spear, and this time pierces Cuchulain
through the body, and Cuchulain's other steed burst the yoke
THE DEATH OF CUCHULAIN 351
and rushed off and never ceased till he, too, had plunged into the
lake from which Cuchulain had taken him in far-off Munster. 1
Cuchulain remained behind, dying in his chariot. With difficulty
and holding in his entrails with one hand, he advanced to a
little lake hard by, and drank from it, and washed off his blood.
Then he propped himself against a high stone a few yards from
the lake, and tied himself to it with his girdle. " He did not
wish to die either sitting or lying, it was standing," says the
saga, " that he wished to meet death."
But his grey steed, the Liath Macha, 2 returned once more to
defend his lord, and made three terrible charges, scattering with
tooth and hoof all who would approach the stone where Cuchu-
lain was dying. At last a bird was seen to alight upon his
shoulder. " Yon pillar used not to be a settling place for birds,"
said Ere. They knew then that he was dead. Lewy, the son
of Curigh, seized him by the back hair and severed his head
from his body.
But Cuchulain was too important an epic hero to thus finish
with him. Another very celebrated, but probably later epopee
tells of how his friend Conall Cearnach pursued the retreating
army and exacted vengeance for his death. A brief digest of
Conall's revenge is contained in the Book of Leinster, but modern
copies of much longer and more literary versions exist, and there
was no more celebrated poem amongst the later Gael than that
1 The belief in water-horses is quite common even still amongst the old
people in all parts of Connacht, and, I think, over the most of Ireland.
2 With the Liath Macha so renowned throughout the whole Cuchulain
saga compare Areion, the celebrated steed of Adrastus, who saved his
master at the rout of the Argeian chiefs round Thebes. The Liath Macha
returns to the water from whence it came, and Areion, too, was believed
to have been the offspring of Poseidon. He is alluded to by Nestor in the
Iliad xxiii. 346 :
ovk taO' oq k'c. rimum apud poetas Christianos finientis imperii Romani et transissc ad
xirdos Cambrorum et in carmina gentilia Scandinavorum " (Editio Ebel,
?. 948).
2 II
482 LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
of their ancestors, had not employed the same poetic forms already,
long before, say in the earliest centuries of our era." x
After arguing that the Irish rule of " Slender-with-Slender
and Broad-with-Broad," a rule which was peculiar to the Celts
alone of all the Aryan races, contained in itself the germ of
rhyme, he sums up his argument thus positively : " We must
conclude, then, that this late Latin [Romanic] verse, made up
of accent, and of an equal number of syllables, may have arisen
in a twofold way, first by the natural evolution of the Latin
language itself ; or secondly, by the equally efficacious example
of neighbouring Celtic peoples, but we conclude that final
assonance, or rhyme, can have been derived only from the laws of
Celtic phonology." 2
Thurneysen, on the other hand, who has done such good
service for the study of Irish metric by his publication of the
text of the fragmentary Irish poets' books,3 is of opinion that
the Irish derived their regular metres with a given number of
1 " Origo enim rimae arabica inter fabulas omnino rejicienda est. . . .
Porro rima ex solo naturali processu latinae linguae explicari nullo modo
potest. Apud Latinos nee res extitit nee nomen. . . . Assonantia final is
vel rima, saeculo quarto abeunte et quinto incipiente vulgaris aevi, primus
occurrit in hymnis Minis ecclesiae mediolanensis qui sancto Ambrosio et
Sancto Augustino tribuuntur. Prima itaque rimae eerta exempla inveni-
untur in solo eeltico, apud celticas gentes, in carminibus conditis a poetis,
qui vel celticae originis sunt, vel apud celticas gentes diu commora-
verunt. Verosimile ut hosce hymnos mediae latinitatis constructos esse
juxta formam celticae poesis quae tunc vigebat, et quae jam assonantiam
finalem prasbet in antiquis ejus reliquiis huc-usque detectis. Profecto car-
mina hibernica et brittanica vetustiora quae ad nos pervenerunt saeculum
octavum vel septimum superare non videntur. Sed temere non est affir-
mare celticas gentes quae moris consuetudinisque majorum tenaces semper
fuerunt, jam multo antea, primis nempe vulgaris aevi saeeulis, eamdem
poeticam formam adhibuisse " (" Glossae Hibernicae Veteres Codicis Taur-
inensis." Lutetiae. 1869. p. xxxi.).
2 " Concludendum est igitur versum romanicum, accentu legatum et pari
syllabarum numero, oriri potuisse ex duplicis causae concursu, nempe a
naturali explicatione latinae linguae, et ab exemplo pariter efficaci affiniuin
celticorum populorum ; sed rimam seu assonantiam finalem, a solis celticx
phonologiae legibus derivatam esse" (Ibid., p. xxxii.).
3 " Mittelirische Verslehren," " Irische Texte," iii. p. 1.
DEVELOPMENT OF IRISH POETRY 483
syllables in each line, from the Latins ; x and Windisch agrees
with him in saying that the Irish verse-forms were influenced
by Latin, 2 though he thinks that Thurneysen presses his theory
too far. The latter, in opposition to Zimmer,3 will not for
instance allow the genuineness of St. Fiacc's metrical life of St.
Patrick because it is in a rhymed and fairly regular metre, a
thing which, according to him, the Irish had not developed at that
early period. It seems necessary to me, however, to take into
account the peculiar prosody of the Irish, especially the tour de
force called aird-rinn used in Deibhidh [d'yevvee] metre, which
we find firmly established in their oldest poems,4 and which
makes the rhyming word ending the second line contain a
syllable more than the rhyming word which ends the first,
while if the accent fall in the first line on the ultimate syllable
it mostly falls in the second line on the penultimate, if it falls
on the penultimate in the first line it generally falls on the
antepenultimate in the second, as —
" Though men owe respect to them,
Presage of woe — a poem.
The slender free palms of her
Than gull on sea are whiter.
1 See his article in " Revue Celtique," vi., p. 336.
2 " Dass die irische Versform von der lateinischen Versform beeinflusst
worden ist, scheint mir zweifellos zu sein. Es fragt sich nur was die
irischen Barden schon hatten als dieser Einfluss begann. Das was
Thurneysen ihnen zugestehen will ist mir etwas zu wenig " (" Irische
Texte," iii. 2, p. 448).
3 " Wir haben," says Zimmer, of this hymn, " ein altes einfaches und
ehrwiirdiges Monument vor uns, an das eine jiingere Zeit mit verandertem
Geschmack, passend und unpassend, an — und eingebaut hat."
4 Deibhidh, in Old Irish Debidc, a neuter word, which Thurneysen trans-
lates " cut in two," is not really a rhyme but a generic name for a metre,
containing twenty-four species. The essence of the principal Deibhidh,
however, is the peculiar manner of rhyming with words of a different
length, so that this system has sometimes been loosely called Deibhidh
rhyme. In the oldest poetry a trisyllable instead of a dissyllable rhyme
could be used as the end word of the second line when the first line ended
with a monosyllable, but in the strictness of later times this was disallowed
484 LITER. IRY HIS TOR Y OF IRELAND
A far greater than any
Man lias killed my Company." '
This peculiarly Irish feature was not borrowed from the
Latins, but is purely indigenous. The oldest books of
glosses on the Continent contain verses formed on this model. 2
According to Thurneysen's theory the Irish learned how to
write rhymed verse with lines of equal syllables sometime
between, say, the year 500 and 700, but the Deibhidh metre
with aird-rinn is found in their oldest verses, bound up with
rhyme in their accurate seven-syllable lines. Why should two
of these ingredients, the rhyme and the stated number of verses
have come from the Romans when the Deibhidh aird-rinn
(which apparently implies rhyme) did not ? Besides is it
credible, on the supposition that the pre-Christian Irish
neither counted their syllables nor rhymed, that within
less than a couple of hundred years after coming in contact
1 " Tus onora cidh dual di,
Tuar anshogha an eigsi.
Glac barr-lag mar chubhair tonn
Do sharaigh dath na bhfaoilionn.
Gniomh follus fath na h-eachtra
Fa'r ciorrbadh mo chuideachta."
These specimens are taken from unedited manuscripts in my own
possession, copied by O'Curry from I know not what originals.
Thus in the Codex St. Pauli we find these verses : —
" Messe ocus Pangur ban
Cechtar nathar fria saindan
Bith a menma-sunn fri seilgg
Mu menma cein im sain-ceirdd.
Caraim-se fos ferr gach clu
Oc mo lebran leir ingnu
Ni foirmtech frimm Pangur ban
Caraid sesin a macc-dan."
DEVELOPMENT OF IRISH POETRY 485
with the rude Latin verse of Augustin and Ambrose, they had
brought rhyming verses to such a pitch of perfection as we see,
in, say, the " Voyage of Bran," which according to both Kuno
Meyer and Professor Zimmer, was written in the seventh
century, the very first verse of which runs —
" Croib dind abaill a h-Emain
Dofed samaill do gndthaib
Gesci findarggait fora
Abrait glano co m-bldihalb " ?
The whole of this poem, too, is shot through with verses of
Deibhidh^ and the rhymes are extraordinarily perfect. 1 This
at least is clear, that already in the seventh century the Irish
not only rhymed but made intricate Deibhidh and other
rhyming metres, 2 when for many centuries after this period
1 The end rhyming words in verses 6-10 for example are as follows —
foe noe, hatha hilbldtha, blathaib thrathaib, gnath trath, datho moithgretho,
cheul Arggutiienl, mrath etzrgnath, cruais cluais, bds ind^a's, n-Emne
comamre.
2 Compare, too, the verses that the monk wrote in the margin of the St.
Gall MS. which he was copying, on hearing the blackbird sing —
" Dom farcai fidbaidae fdl
Fomchain loid lain luad nad eel
Huas mo lebran mdlinccli
Fomchain trirech inna nen ; "
the language of which is so ancient as to be nearly unintelligible to a
modern, though the metre is common from that day to this. " A thicket
of bushes surrounds me, a lively blackbird sings to me his lay, I shall not
conceal it, above my many-lined book he sings to me the trill of the
birds," etc. Commenting on these verses Nigra says feelingly, " Mentre
traduco questi versi amo ngurarmi il povero monaco che, or fa piu cli
mille anni, stava copiando il manoscritto, e distratto un istante dal canto
dei merli contemplava dalla finestra della sua cella la verde corona di
boscaglie che circondava il suo monastero nell Ulster o nel Connaught, e
dopo avere ascoltato l'agile trillo degli uccelli, recitava questi strofc, e
rapigliava poi piu allegro l'interrotto lavoro."
It has often been alleged that the word rhyme is derived from the Irish
rim, "number," rimairc, "a reckoner," and rimim, "I count ;" but in Anglo-
Saxon rim has the same meaning, so that unless the An^lo-Saxons borrowed
the word, as they certainly did the thing, from the Irish, this is inconclusive.
In iol. 8a of the "Liber Hymnorum " we read in the preface to the very
ancient hymn " In Trinitate spes mea," the following note: " Incertuin
486 LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
the Germanic nations could only alliterate — a thing which
though sometimes used in Irish verse is in no way fundamental
to it. In England so late as the beginning of the fifteenth
century, the virile author of the book of Piers Ploughman
used alliteration in preference to rhyme, and, indeed, down to
the first half of the sixteenth century English poets, for the
most part, exhibit a disregard for fineness of execution and
technique of which not the meanest Irish bard attached to the
pettiest chief could have been guilty. After the seventh
century the Irish brought their rhyming system to a pitch
of perfection undreamt of, even at this day, by other
nations. Perhaps by no people in the globe, at any period
of the world's history, was poetry so cultivated and, better
still, so remunerated, as in Ireland. The elaborateness of
the system they evolved, the prodigious complexity of the
rules, the subtlety and intricacy of their poetical code are
astounding.
The real poet of the early Gaels was the file [filla]. The
bard was nothing thought of in comparison with him, and the
legal price of his poems was quite small compared with the
remuneration of the file. It was the bard who seems to have
been most affected by Latin influence, and the metres which
he used seem to have been of relatively new importation.
Where the file received his three milch cows for a poem the
bard only bore away a calf. The bards were divided into
two classes, the Saor and Daor bards, or the patrician and
est hautem in quo tempore factus est, Trerithim dana doronadh ocus xi.
caiptell deac ann, ocus dalini in cech caiptiull, ocus se sillaba dec
cechai. Is foi is rithim doreir in omine dobit ann., i.e., "in rhyme it was
made and eleven chapters thereon and two lines in every chapter, and
sixteen syllables in each. It is on i the rhyme is because of the 'omine'
that is in it." In the preface to the hymn, " Christus in nostra insula,"
the scholiast writes, "Trerithim dana dorigned," which Whitley Stokes
translates by "in rhythm moreover it was made," but rithim evidently
means the same in both passages, namely, rhyme not rhythm, at least if
the first passage is rightly translated by Dr. Stokes himself. I doubt,
however, if rim or rithim ever meant " rhyme " in Irish.
DEVELOPMENT OF IRISH POETRY 487
plebeian. 1 There were eight grades in each class, one of the
many examples of the love of the Irish for minute classification,
a quality with which they are not usually credited, at least, not
in modern times. Each of these sixteen classes of bard has his
own peculiar metre or framework for his verses, and the lower
bard was not allowed to encroach on the metres sacred to the
bard next in rank. 2
The files [Alias] were, as we have said, the highest class of
poets. There were seven grades of File,3 the most exalted
1 The various Saor bands were called the Anshruth-bairdne (great
stream of poetry ?), the Sruth di aill (stream down two cliffs ?), the
Tighearn-bhard (lord bard), the Adhmhall, the Tuath-bhard (lay bard),
the bo-bhard (cow-bard) and the Bard dine. The highest of the Daor
bards was called the cul-bhard (back bard), and after him came the Sruth-
bhard (stream-bard), the Drisiuc, the cromluatJia, the Sirti-uf, the
Rindliaidli, the Long-bhard, and the bard Loirrge.
2 Thus the head of the patrician bards was entitled to make use of the
metres called nath, metres in which the end of each line makes a vowel
rhyme or an alliteration with the beginning of the next, the number of
syllables in the line and of lines in the verse being irregular. There were
six kinds of n&ili metres, called Dcachna. All these the first bard
practised with two honourable metres besides, called the great and little
Seadna. The Anshruth used the two kinds of metres called Ollbhairdnc,
the Sruth di aill used Casbhairdue, the Tighearn-bhard used Duan-
bhairdue, a generic metre of which there were six species called Duan
faidesin, duan cendlacJi, fordhuan, taebh-chasadh, tul-cJiasadh, and sreth-
bhairdnc. All the metres which these five employed were honourable ones,
and went under the generic name of ftriomhfodhla. Then came the
Adhmhall with seven measures for himself, bairdne faidessin, blogh-
bhairdne, brac-bliairdue, snedh-bJiairdue, sem-bhairdne, iniard-bliairdne,
and rathnuall. The Tuath-bhard had all the Rannaiglicacht metres and
the Bo-bard all the Deibhidh metres, and these two, Rannaigheacht and
Deibhidh, though thus lowly thought of in early — probably pre-Danish —
days, were destined in later times, like the cuckoo birds, to oust their
fellows and reign in the forefront for many hundred years. The Tuath-
bhard had also two other metres Seaghdha and Treochair, and the Bo-
bhard in addition to Deibhidh had long and short deachubhaidh.
The classification of the Daor bards and their metres is just as
minute.
3 The lowest grade of file was called the fucluc (word maker ?). In
his first year he had to learn fifty ogams and straight ogams amongst
them. He had to learn the grammar called Uraicept ua u-e'igsine, and
the preface to it, and that part of the book called reimcanna, or courses,
488 LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
being called an ollamh [ollav], a name that has frequently
occurred throughout this book. They were so highly esteemed I
that the annalists give the obituaries of the head-ollamhs as ir
they were so many princes. The course of study was origin-
ally perhaps one of seven years. Afterwards it lasted for twelve
years or more. 1 When a poet had worked his way up after at
least twelve but perhaps sometimes twenty years of study,
through all the lower degrees, and had at last attained the rank
of ollamh, he knew, in addition to all his other knowledge,
over three hundred and fifty different kinds of versification,
and was able to recite two hundred and fifty prime stories and
one hundred secondary ones. The ancient and fragmentary
manuscripts from which these details are taken, not only give
the names of the metres but have actually preserved examples
of between two and three hundred of them taken from different
ancient poems, almost all of which have perished to a line, but
they give a hint of what once existed. Nearly all the text
books used in the career of the poet during his twelve years'
course are lost, and with them have gone the particulars of a
civilisation probably the most unique and interesting in
Europe.
The bardic schools were at no time an unmixed blessing to
Ireland. They were non-productive in an economic sense,
and as early as the seventh century the working classes felt that
these idle multitudes constituted an intolerable drain upon the
nation's resources. Keating in his history says that at this
time the bardic order contained a third of the men of Ireland,
by which he means a third of the free clans or patricians.
These quartered themselves from November to May upon the
chiefs and farmers. They had also reached an intolerable
pitch of insolence. According to the account in the Leabhar
with twenty dreachts (stories ?), six metres and other things. The six
metres were the six dians called air-shcang, midh-sheang, iar-sheang, air-
throtn, midh-throm, and iar-throm.
1 Each of the twelve years had its own course of the same nature as
the above.
DEVELOPMENT OF IRISH POETRY 489
Breac they went about the country in bands carrying with
them a silver pot, which the populace named the " pot of
avarice," which was attached by nine chains of bronze hung
on golden hooks, and which was suspended on the spears of
nine poets, thrust through the links at the end of the chains.
They then selected some unfortunate victim, and approached
in state his homestead, having carefully composed a poem in
his laudation. The head poet entering chanted the first verse,
and the last poet took it up, until each of the nine had recited
his part, whilst all the time the nine best musicians played their
sweetest music in unison with the verses, round the pot, into
which the unfortunate listener was obliged to throw an ample
guerdon of gold and silver. Woe to him indeed, if he refused ;
a scathing satire would be the result, and sooner than endure
the disgrace of this, every one parted to them with a share of
his wealth. Aedh mac Ainmirech, the High-king of Ireland,
who reigned at the end of the seventh century — the same who
afterwards lost his life in the battle of Bolgdun in raising the
thrice cursed Boru tribute — "considering them," as Keating
puts it, " to be too heavy a burden upon the land of Ireland,"
determined to banish the whole profession. This was the
third attempt to put down the poets, who had always before
found a refuge in the northern province when expelled from
the others. But now King Aedh [Ae] summoned a great
convention of all Ireland at Drum Ceat [Cat] near Lima-
vaddy in the north of Ireland, to deliberate upon several
matters of national interest, of which the expulsion of the
bards was not the least important. The fate of the Bardic
Institution was trembling in the balance, when Columcille, an
accomplished bard himself as we have seen, crossed over from
Iona with a retinue of 140 clerics, and by his eloquence and
great influence succeeded in checking the fury of the exaspe-
rated chieftains : the issue of the great convention which lasted
ror a year and one month, was — so far as the bards were con-
cerned — that their numbers were indeed reduced, but it was
490 LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
agreed that the High-king should retain in his service one chief
ollamhj and that the kings of the five provinces, the chiefs of
each territory, and the lords of each sub-district should all
retain an ollamh of their own. No other poets except those
especially sanctioned were to pursue the poetic calling.
Ir the bards lost severely in numbers and prestige on this
occasion they were" in the long run amply compensated for it
by their acquiring a new and recognised status in the state.
Their unchartered freedom and licentious wanderings were
indeed checked, but, on the other hand, they became for the
first time the possessors of fixed property and of local stability.
Distinct public estates in land were set apart for their mainte-
nance, 1 and they were obliged in return to give public instruction
to all comers in the learning of the day, after the manner of
university professors. Rathkenry in Meath, and Masree in
Cavan are particularly mentioned as bardic colleges then founded,
where any of the youth of Ireland could acquire a knowledge of
history and of the sciences. 2 The High-king, the provincial
kings, and the sub-kings were all obliged by law to set apart a
certain portion of land for the poet of the territory, to be held
by him and his successors free of rent, and a law was passed
making the persons and the property of poets sacred, and
giving them right of sanctuary in their own land from all the
men of Ireland. At the same time the amount of reward
which they were allowed to receive for their poems was legally
settled. From this time forward for nearly a thousand years
the bardic colleges, as distinct from the ecclesiastical ones,
taught poetry, law, and history, and it was they who. educated
the lawyers, judges, and poets of Ireland.
As far as we can judge the bards continued to flourish in
equal power and position with the dignitaries of the Church,
1 I have seen it stated, but I do not know on what authority, that their
income derived from land, in what is the present county of Donegal, w;is
equal to £2,000 a year.
2 See Keating's " Forus Feasa" under the reign of Aedh mac Ainmireach.
DEVELOPMENT OF IRISH POETRY 491
and their colleges must have been nearly as important institu-
tions as the foundations of the religious orders, until the
onslaught of the Northmen reduced the country to such a state
that "neither bard, nor philosopher, nor musician," as Keating
says, " pursued their wonted profession in the land." It was
probably at this time that the carefully observed distinction
between the bard and the file broke down, for in later times
the words seem to have been regarded as synonymous.
For some time after the Norman conquest the bardic colleges
seem to have again suffered eclipse ; and, as we have seen, the
century that succeeded that invasion appears to have produced
fewer poets than any other. But the great Anglo-Norman
houses soon became Irishised and adopted Irish bards of their
own. There are many incidents recorded in the Irish annals and
many stories gathered from other sources which go to show that
the importance of the bards as individuals could not have been
much diminished during the Anglo-Norman regime. One of
them is worth recording. In the beginning; of the thirteenth
century the steward of the O'Donnell went to Lisadill, 1 near
Sligo, to collect rents, and some words passed between him
and the great poet Murrough O'Daly, who, unaccustomed
to be thwarted in anything, clove the head of the steward with
an axe. Then, fearing O'Donnell's vengeance, he fled to
Clanrickard and the Norman De Bourgos, and at once ad-
dressed a poem to Richard De Burgo, son of William Fitz-
adelm, in which he states that he, the bard, was used to visit
the courts of the English, and to drink wine at the hands of
kings and knights, and bishops and abbots. He tells De
Bourgo that he has now a chance of making himself illus-
trious by protecting him, O'Daly of Meath, who now
throws himself on his generosity and whose poems demand
attention. As for O'Donnell, he had given him small
offence.
1 Lios-an-doill i.e., the ''blind man's fort." See the preface to O'Dono-
v.m's "Satires of Angus," for this story.
492 LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
" Trifling our quarrel with the man,
A clown to be abusing me,
Me to kill the churl,
Dear God ! Is this a cause for enmity?"
De Bourgo accordingly received and protected him, until
O'Donnell, coming in furious pursuit, laid waste his country I
with fire and sword. Fitzadelm submitted, but passed on the
poet to the O'Briens of North Minister. But O'Donnell
again pursuing with fury, these also submitted, and secretly
dispatched the poet to the people of Limerick who received
him. O'Donnell hurried on and laid siege to the city, and its
inhabitants in terror expelled the poet once more, who was :
passed on from hand to hand until he came to Dublin. But
the people of Dublin, terrified at O'Donnell's threats, sent
him away ; and he crossed over into Scotland where his fame
rose higher than before, and where his poems remained so
popular that when the Dean of Lismore in Argyle jotted down
nearly four hundred years ago in phonetic spelling a number
of poems just as he heard them, they included a dispropor- ;
tionately large number of this O'Daly's, 1 who was afterward
known as Murrough the Scotchman. At last in return for
some fine laudatory verses upon O'Donnell he was graciously
pardoned by that chieftain and returned to his native country.
The Anglo-Normans not only kept bards of their own, but
some of themselves also became poets. The story of Silken
Thomas and his bard whose verses urged him on to rebellion,
is well known. It is curious, too, to find one of the Norman
Nugents of Delvin in the sixteenth century making the most
perfect classical Irish verses, lamenting his exile from Ireland,
the home of his ancestors, the Land of Fin tan, the old Plain
of Ir, the country of Inisfail.
"Loth to Leave, my fain eyes swim,
I Part in Tain from Erinn.
1 He preserved eight pieces of O'Daly, who is called Muireach Albanach,
and in one place Muireach Lessin Dall (i.e., Lios-an-Doill) O'Daly.
DEVELOPMENT OF IRISH POETRY 493
Land of the "Loud sea-rollers,
PRide of PRoud steed-controllers." B
After a few generations the Anglo-Normans had completely
forgotten Norman-French, and as they never, with few
exceptions, learned English, they identified themselves com-
pletely with the Irish past, so that amongst the Irish poets we
find numbers of Nugents, Englishes, Condons, Cusacks,
Keatings, Comyns, and other foreign names.
It was only after the Anglo-Norman government had
developed into an English one that the bards began to feel
its weight. The slaying of the Welsh bards by Edward is
now generally regarded as a political fiction. There is no
fiction, however, about the treatment meted out to the Irish
ones. The severest acts were passed against them over and
over again. The nobles were forbidden to entertain them, in~
the hope that they might die out or starve, and the Act of
Elizabeth alleges one of the usual lying excuses of the Eliza-
bethan period : " Item," it says, " for that those rhymours by
their ditties and rhymes made to divers lords and gentlemen
in Ireland to the commendation and high praise of extortion,
rebellion, rape, ravin, and other injustice, encourage those lords
and gentlemen rather to follow those vices than to leave them,
and for making of the said rhymes rewards are given by the
said lords and gentlemen, (let) for abolishing of so heinous an
abuse, orders be taken." Orders were taken, and taken so
thoroughly that O'Brien, Earl of Thomond, obliged to
enforce them against the bards, hanged three distinguished poets,
"for which abominable, treacherous act," say the "Four
Masters," "the earl was satirised and denounced." I find
a northern bard about this time, the close of the sixteenth
1 " Diombuaidh Trial!, o Thulchaibh Fail
Diombuaidh lath Eireann d'fhagbhail,
lath mhilis na MBeann MBeachach,
Inis na N-Eang N-6ig-eacbach."
Deibhidh metre. Sec Hardiman, vol. ii. p. 226.
494 LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
century, thus lamenting the absence of his patron, Aedh [Ac]
Mac Aonghasa : —
" If a Sngc of Song should be
In the wage of Court or King.
Ha ! the Gallows Guards the WAY.
Ah ! since AE from port took wing." ■
Spenser the poet was not slow in finding out what a power
his Irish rivals were in the land, and he at once set himself to
malign and blacken them. " There are," he writes, "amongst
the Irish a certain kind of people called bards, which are to
them instead of poets," — the insinuation is that the bards are
not real poets! — "the which are had in so high regard and
estimation among them, that none dare displease them for
fear to run into reproach through their offence, and to be
made infamous in the mouths of all men." On which,
Eudoxus, his friend, is made to remark innocently that he
had always thought that poets were to be rather encouraged
than put down. " Yes," answers Spenser, " they should be
encouraged when they desire honour and virtue, but," he goes
on, " these Irish bards are for the most part of another mind,
and so far from instructing young men in moral discipline,
that whomsoever they find to be most licentious of life, most
bold and lawlesse in his doings, most dangerous and desperate
in all parts of disobedience and rebellious disposition, him they
set up and glorify in their rhythmes, him they praise to the
people and to young men make an example to follow."
The allegation that the bards praised what was licentious
is an untruth on the part of the great poet. Few English
Elizabethans, once they passed over into Ireland, seem to have
been able to either keep faith or tell truth ; there was never
* " Da ndimghiodh duine re dan
Fa chiniodh don chuirc riogh
Do bhiadh crock roimhe ar gach raon
Och! gan Aodh Doirc dar ndion."
Rannaigheacht Mor metre. From a MS. poem.
DEVELOPMENT OF IRISH POETRY 495
such a thoroughly dishonourable race, or one so utterly devoid
of all moral sense, as the Irish " statesmen " of that period.
The real reason why Spenser, as an undertaker, blackens the
character of the Irish poets is not because their poems were
licentious — which they were not — but because, as he confesses
later on, they are " tending for the most part to the hurt of
the English or [the] maintenance of their owne lewde libertie,
they being most desirous thereof."
Spenser's ignorant and self-contradictory criticism on the
merits of the Irish bards has often been quoted as if it con-
stituted a kind of hall-mark for them ! " Tell me, I pray you,"
said his friend, " have they any art in their compositions, or be
they anything wittie or wellmannered as poems should be ? "
v Yea, truly," says Spenser, " I have caused divers of them
to be translated unto me, that I might understand them, and
surely they savoured of sweet art and good invention, but
skilled not in the goodly ornaments of poesie, yet were they
sprinkled with some pretty flowers of their natural device,
which gave good grace and comeliness unto them ; the which
it is a great pity to see abused to the gracing of wickedness
and vice, which with good usage would serve to adorn and
beautify virtue."
The gentle poet is here almost copying the words of the
Act, which perhaps he himself helped to inspire, according to
which the bardic poems are in praise of " extortion, rebellion,
rape, ravin, and other injustice." I have, however, read
hundreds of the poems of the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries, but have never come across a single syllable in
laudation of either "extortion, rape, ravin, or other injustice,"
but numerous poems inciting to what the Act calls "rebellion,"
and what Spenser terms "the hurt of the English and the
maintenance of their owne lewde libertie."
It would be difficult to overrate the importance ot the
colleges of the hereditary bards and the influence they exer-
496 LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
cised in the life of the sixteenth century. They fairly
reflected public opinion, and they also helped to make it what
it was. There is a great difference between their poems and
the memoria technicha verses of the ancient ollamhs, whose
historical and genealogical poems, which they composed in
their official capacity, are crowded with inorganic phrases
and " chevilles " of all kinds. The sixteenth-century poet
was a man of wit and learning, and frequently a better
and more clear-seeing statesman than his chief, who was in
matters of policy frequently directed by his bard's advice.
They certainly had more national feeling than any other class
in Ireland, and were less the slaves of circumstances or of mere
local accidents, for they traversed the island from end to end,
were equally welcome north, south, east, and west, and had
unrivalled opportunities for becoming acquainted with the
trend of public affairs, and with political movements.
Most people, owing to their comparative neglect of Irish
history, seem to be of opinion that the bards were harpers, or
at least musicians of some sort. But they were nothing of
the kind. The popular conception of the bard with the long
white beard and the big harp is grotesquely wrong. The
bards were verse-makers, pure and simple, and they were no
more musicians than the poet laureate of England. Their
business was to construct their poems after the wonderful and
complex models of the schools, and when — as only sometimes
happened — they wrote a eulogy or panegyric on a patron,
and brought it to him, they introduced along with themselves
a harper and possibly a singer to whom they had taught their
poem, and in the presence of their patron to the sound of the
harp, the only instrument allowed to be touched on such
occasions, the poem was solemnly recited or sung. The real
name of the musician was not bard — the bard was a verse-
maker — but oirfideadh [errh-fid-ya], and the musicians, though
a numerous and honourable class, were absolutely distinct
from the bards and files. It was only after the complete
DEVELOPMENT OF IRISH POETRY 497
break-up of the Gaelic polity, after the wars of Cromwell and
of William, that the verse-maker merges in the musician, and
the harper and the bard become fused in one, as was the case
with Carolan, commonly called the last of the bards, but
whom his patron, O'Conor of Belanagare, calls in his obituary
of him, not a bard, but an oirfideadh.
Down to the close of the sixteenth century and during the
greater part of the seventeenth, verse, with few exceptions,
continued to be made in the classical metres of Ireland, by
specially trained poets, who did not go outside these metres.
In the ensuing century the classical metres began to be dis-
carded and a wonderful and far-reaching change took place,
which shall be made the subject of a future chapter. We
must now proceed to examine a species of popular poetry
which flourished during all this period side by side with the
bardic schools, although no trace remains to-day of its origin
or its authors. This is the so-called Ossianic poetry.
2 1
CHAPTER XXXVII
THE OSSIANIC POEMS
Side by side with the numerous prose sagas which fall under
the title of " Fenian," and which we have already examined in
Chapter XXIX., there exists an enormous mass of poems,
chiefly narrative, of a minor epic type, or else semi-dramatic
epopees, usually introduced by a dialogue between St. Patrick
and the poet Ossian. Ossian 1 was the son of Finn mac Cum-
hail, vulgarly " Cool," and he was fabled to have lived in Tir
na n-6g [T'yeer na nogue], the country of the ever-young,
the Irish Elysium, for three hundred years, thus surviving all
his Fenian contemporaries, and living to hold colloquy with St.
Patrick. The so-called Ossianic poems are extraordinarily
numerous, and were they all collected would probably (between
those preserved in Scotch-Gaelic and in Irish) amount to some
80,000 lines. My friend, the late Father James Keegan, of St.
Louis, once estimated them at 100,000. The most of them,
in the form in which they have come down to us at the present
day, seem to have been composed in rather loose metres, chiefly
imitations of Deibhidh and Rannaigheacht mor, and they were
1 In Irish Oisin, pronounced " Esheen," or "Ussheen." However, the
Scotch Gaelic form has, thanks to the genius of Macphersoni so over-
shadowed the Irish one that it may be allowed to remain,
498
THE OSSIANIC POEMS 499
even down to our fathers' time exceedingly popular both in
Ireland and the Scotch Highlands, in which latter country
Iain Campbell, the great folk-lorist, made the huge collection
which he called Leabhar na Feinne, or the Book of the
Fenians.
Some of the Ossianic poems relate the exploits of the
Fenians, others describe conflicts between members of that
body and worms, wild beasts and dragons, others fights with
monsters and with strangers come from across the sea ; others
detail how Finn and his companions suffered from the en-
chantments of wizards and the efforts made to release them,
one enumerates the Fenians who fell at Cnoc-an-air, another
gives the names of about three hundred of the Fenian hounds,
another gives Ossian's account of his three hundred years in the
Land of the Young and his return, many more consist largely
of semi-humorous dialogues between the saint and the old
warrior ; another is called Ossian's madness ; another is Ossian's
account of the battle of Gabhra, which made an end of the
Fenians, and so on. 1
The Lochlannachs, or Norsemen, figure very largely in
these poems, and it is quite evident that most of them — at
least in the modern form in which we now have them — are
post-Norse productions. The fact that the language in which
they have for the most part come down to us is popular and
modern, does not prove much one way or the other, for these
small epics which, more than any other part of Irish literature,
were handed down from father to son and propagated orally,
have had their language unconsciously adjusted from age to
age, so as to leave them intelligible to their hearers. As a
consequence the metres have in many places also suffered, and
the old Irish system, which required a certain number or
1 Standish Hayes O'Grady, in the third vol. of the Ossianic Society,
I gives the names of thirty-five of these poems, amounting to nearly 11,000
li lines. The Ossianic Society printed about 6,000 lines. The Franciscans
h have shown me a MS. with over 10,000 lines, none of which has been printed.
500 LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
syllables in each line, has shown signs of fusing gradually with
the new Irish system, which only requires so many accented
syllables.
It IS; however, perfectly possible — as has been supposed by,
I think, Mr. Nutt and others — that after the terrible shock
given to the island by the Northmen, this people usurped in
our ballads the place of some older mythical race ; and Professor
Rhys was, I believe, at one time of opinion that Lochlann, as
spoken of in these ballads, originally meant merely the country
of lochs and seas, and that the Lochlanners were a submarine
mythical people, like the Fomorians.
The spirit of banter with which St. Patrick and the Church
are treated, and in which the fun just stops short of irreverence,
is a mediaeval, not a primitive, trait, more characteristic, thinks
Mr. Nutt, of the twelfth than of any succeeding century.
We may remember the inimitable felicity with which that great
English-speaking Gael, Sir Walter Scott, has caught this
Ossianic tone in the lines which Hector Mclntyre repeats for
Oldbuck—
" Patrick the psalm-singer,
Since you will not listen to one of my stories,
Though you have never heard it before,
I am sorry to tell you
You are little better than an ass ; "
to which the saint, to the infinite contempt of the unbelieving
antiquary, is made to respond —
" Upon my word, son of Fingal,
While I am warbling the psalms,
The clamour of your old woman's talcs
Disturbs my devotional exercises."
Whereat the heated Ossian replies —
" Dare you compare your psalms
To the tales of the bare-armed Fenians,
I shall think it no great harm
To wring your bald head from your shoulders."
THE OSSIANIC POEMS 501
Here, however, is a real specimen from the Irish, which will
give some idea of the style of dialogue between the pair. St.
Patrick, with exaggerated episcopal severity, having Ossian
three-quarters starved, blind, and wholly at his mercy, desires
him to speak no more of Finn or of the Fenians.
" OSSIAN.
"Alas, O Patrick, I did think that God would not be angered thereat ;
I think long, and it is a great woe to me, not to speak of the way of
Finn of the Deeds.
" Patrick.
" Speak not of Finn nor of the Fenians, for the Son of God will be
angry with thee for it, he would never let thee into his court and he
would not send thee the bread of each day.
" OSSIAN.
" Were I to speak of Finn and of the Fenians, between us two, O
Patrick the new, but only not to speak loud, he would never hear us
mentioning him.
" Patrick.
" Let nothing whatever be mentioned by thee excepting the offering
of God, or if thou talkest continually of others, thou, indeed, shalt
not go to the house of the saints.
" OSSIAN.
" I will, O Patrick, do His will. Of Finn or of the Fenians I will
not talk, for fear of bringing anger upon them, O Cleric, if it is God's
wont to be angry."
In another poem St. Patrick denounces with all the rigour
of a new reformer.
" Patrick.
" Finn is in hell in bonds, ' the pleasant man who used to bestow
gold,' in penalty of his disobedience to God, he is now in the house
of pain in sorrow. . , .
" Because of the amusement [he had with] the hounds and for
attending the (bardic) schools each day, and because he took no heed
of God, Finn of the Fenians is in bonds. . . .
" Misery attend thee, old man, who speakest words of madness ;
God is better for one hour than all the Fenians of Erin.
502 LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
"OSSIAN.
"0 Patrick of the crooked crozier, who makest me that impertinent
answer, thy crozier would be in atoms were Oscar present.
" Were my son Oscar and God hand to hand on Knock-na-veen, if
I saw my son down it is then I would say that God was a strong man.
" How could it be that God and his clerics could be better men than
Finn, the chief King of the Fenians, the generous one who was
without blemish ?
"All the qualities that you and your clerics say are according to the
rule of the King of the Stars, Finn's Fenians had them all, and they
must be now stoutly seated in God's heaven.
" Were there a place above or below better than heaven, 'tis there
Finn would go, and all the Fenians he had. . . .
" Patrick, inquire of God whether he recollects when the Fenians
were alive, or hath he seen east or west, men their equal in the time
of fight.
" Or hath he seen in his own country, though high it be above our
heads, in conflict, in battle, or in might, a man who was equal to
Finn ?
" Patrick.
(Exhausted with controversy and curious for Ossian's story.)
" Ossian sweet to me thy voice,
Now blessings choice on the soul of Finn !
But tell to us how many deer
Were slain at Slieve-na-man finn.
" OSSIAN.
" We the Fenians never used to tell untruth, a lie was never attri-
buted to us ; by truth and the strength of our hands we used to come
safe out of every danger.
" There never sat cleric in church, though melodiously ye may think
they chant psalms, more true to his word than the Fenians, the men
who shrank never from fierce conflicts.
• •••••
" O Patrick, where was thy God the day the two came across the
sea who carried off the queen of the King of Lochlann in ships, by
whom many fell here in conflict.
" Or when Tailc mac Treoin arrived, the man who put great slaughter
on the Fenians ; 'twas not by God the hero fell, but by Oscar in the
presence of all.
" Many a battle victory and contest were celebrated by the Fenians
of Innisfail. I never heard that any feat was performed by the king
of saints, or that he reddened his hand.
THE OSSIANIC POEMS 503
" Patrick.
" Let us cease disputing on both sides, thou withered old man who
art devoid of sense ; understand that God dwells in heaven of the
orders, and Finn and his hosts are all in pain.
" OSSIAN.
" Great, then, would be the shame for God not to release Finn from
the shackles of pain ; for if God Himself were in bonds my chief
would fight on his behalf.
" Finn never suffered in his day any one to be in pain or difficulty
without redeeming him by silver or gold or by battle and fight, until
he was victorious.
" It is a good claim I have against your God, me to be amongst
these clerics as I am, without food, without clothing or music, with-
out bestowing gold on bards,
" Without battling, without hunting, without Finn, without courting
generous women, without sport, without sitting in my place as was
my due, without learning feats of agility and conflict, etc."
Many of these poems contain lyrical passages of great beauty.
Here, as a specimen, is Ossian's description of the things in
which Finn used to take delight. It is a truly lyrical passage,
in the very best style, rhyme, rhythm and assonance are all
combined with a most rich vocabulary of words expressive of
sounds nearly impossible to translate into English. It might
be thus attempted in verse, though not quite in the metre of
the original. Finn's pursuits as depicted here by Ossian show
him to have been a lover of nature, and are quite in keeping
with his poem on Spring ; his are the tastes of one of Matthew
Arnold's "Barbarians" glorified.
"FINN'S PASTIMES.
" Oh, croaking Patrick, I curse your tale.
Is the King of the Fenians in hell this night ?
The heart that never was seen to quail,
That feared no danger and felt no spite. 1
£ In the original Ossian asks —
" An eagcoir nar mhaith le Dia
Or a's biadh do thabhairt do neach ?
Nior dhiultaigh Fionn treun na truagh
Ifrionn fuar ma 'sea theach."
504 LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
What kind of a God can be yours, to grudge
Bestowing of food on him, giving of gold ?
Finn never refused cither prince or drudge ;
Can his doom be in hell in the house of cold. 1
The desire of my hero who feared no foe
Was to listen all day to Drumderrig's sound,
To sleep by the roar of the Assaroe,
And to follow the dun deer round and round.
The warbling of blackbirds in Letter Lee,
The strand where the billows of Ruree fall,
The bellowing ox upon wild Moy-mee,
The lowing of calves upon Glen-da-vaul.
The blast of a horn around Slieve Grot,
The bleat of a fawn upon Cua's plain,
The sea-birds scream in a lonely spot,
The croak of the raven above the slain,
The wash of the waves on his bark afar,
The yelp of the pack as they round Drumliss,
The baying of Bran upon Knock-in-ar,
The murmur of fountains below Slieve Mis.
The call of Oscar upon the chase, 2
The tongue of the hounds on the Fenians' plain,
Then a seat with the men of the bardic race,
— Of these delights was my hero fain.
But generous Oscar's supreme desire,
Was the maddening clashing of shield on shield,
1 Irish writers always describe Hell as cold, not hot. This is so even in
Keating. The " cold flag of hell."
2 In the original —
" Glaodh Oscair ag dul do sheilg
Gotha gadhar ar leirg na bh Fiann
Bheith 'na shuidhe ameasg na ndamh
Ba h-e sin de ghnath a mhian.
Mian de mhianaibh Oscair fheil
Bheith ag eisteacht re beim sgiath,
Bheith i gcath ag cosgar cnamh
Ba h-e sin de ghnath a mhian."
THE OS SI A NIC POEMS 505
And the hewing of bones in the battle ire,
And the crash and the joy of the stricken field." 1
In entire accordance with this enthusiastic love of nature
is Ossian's delightful address to the blackbird of Derrycarn, a
piece which was a great favourite with the scribes of the last
century. 2 Interpenetrated with the same almost sensuous
1 Literally : " O Patrick, woful is the tale that the Fenian king should be in
bonds, a heart devoid of spite or hatred, a heart stern in maintaining battles.
" Is it an injustice at which God is not pleased to bestow gold and food
on any one ? Finn never refused either the strong or the wretched,
although cold Hell is his house.
" It was the desire of the son of Ciimhal of the noble mien to listen to
the sound of Drumderg, to sleep by the stream of the Assaroe, and to
chase the deer of Galway of the bays.
"The warbling of the blackbird of Letter Lee, the wave of Ruree
[Dundrum Bay in the County Down] lashing the shore, the bellowing of
the ox of Moy Meen, the lowing of the calf of Glendavaul.
" The cry of the hunting of Slieve Grot, the noise of the fawns around
Slieve Cua, the scream of the seagulls over yonder Irris, the cry of the
ravens over the host.
" The tossing of the hulls of the barks by the waves, the yell of the
hounds at Drumlish, the voice of Bran at Knockinar, the murmur of the
streams around Slieve Mis.
" The call of Oscar, going to the chase, the cry of the hounds at Lerg-na-
veen — (then) to be sitting amongst the bards : that was his desire constantly.
" A desire of the desires of generous Oscar, was to be listening to the
crashing of shields, to be in the battle at the hewing of bones : that was
ever his desire." (See Ossianic Society, vol. iv. The Colloquy between
Ossian and Patrick.)
2 Printed by O'Flanagan in the "Transactions of the Gaelic Society," 1808,
and translated by Dr. Sigerspn in his " Bards of the Gael and Gall." I
cannot refrain from the pleasure of quoting the following verses from his
beautiful translation : —
"The tuneful tumult of that bird,
The belling deer on ferny steep :
This welcome in the dawn he heard,
These soothed at eve his sleep.
Dear to him the wind-loved heath,
The whirr of wings, the rustling brake ;
Dear the murmuring glens beneath,
And sob of Droma's lake.
The cry of hounds at early morn,
The pattering deer, the pebbly creek',
The cuckoo's call, the sounding horn,
The swooping eagle's shriek."
5o6 LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
delight at the sights and sounds of nature, are the following
verses which the Scotsman, Dean Macgregor, wrote down —
probably from the recitation of a wandering harper or poet-
some three hundred and eighty years ago.
" Sweet is the voice in the land of gold, 1
And sweeter the music of birds that soar,
When the cry of the heron is heard on the wold,
And the waves break softly on Bundatrore.
Down floats on the murmuring of the breeze
The call of the cuckoo from Cossahun,
The blackbird is warbling amongst the trees,
And soft is the kiss of the warming sun.
The cry of the eagle at Assaroe
O'er the court of Mac Morne to me is sweet ;
And sweet is the cry of the bird below,
Where the wave and the wind and the tall cliff meet.
Finn mac Cool is the father of me,
Whom seven battalions of Fenians fear,
When he launches his hounds on the open lea,
Grand is their cry as they rouse the deer."
Caoilte [Cweeltya] too, the third great Fenian poet, was as
impressionable to the moods of nature as his friends Ossian
and Finn. Compare with. the foregoing poems his lay on the
Isle of Arran, in Scotland. 2
THE ISLE OF ARRAN.
"Arran of the many stags, the sea inpinges upon her very
shoulders ! An isle in which whole companies were fed, and with
ridges among which blue spears are reddened.
" Skittish deer are on her pinnacles, soft blackberries on her
1 See p. 59 of the Gaelic part of the book of the Dean of Lismore. The
first verse runs thus in modern Gaelic : —
"Binn guth duine i dtir an oir,
Binn an glor chanaid na h-eoin,
Binn an nuallan a gnidh an chorr,
Binn an tonn i mBun-da-treoir."
2 Sec "Silva Gadelica," p. 109 of the English, p. 102 of the Irish volume.
I retain Mr. O'Grady's beautiful translation of this and the following piece.
THE OSSIANIC POEMS 507
waving heather ; cool water there is in her rivers, and musk upon
her russet oaks. 1
"Greyhounds there were in her and beagles, blackberries and
sloes of the dark blackthorn, dwellings with their backs set close
against her woods, while the deer fed scattered by her oaken thickets.
" A crimson crop grew on her rocks, in all her glades a faultless
grass ; over her crags affording friendly refuge leaping went on, and
fawns were skipping.
" Smooth were her level spots, fat her wild swine, cheerful her
fields. . . . her nuts hung on the boughs of her forest hazels, and
there was sailing of long galleys past her.
" Right pleasant their condition, all, when the fair weather set in.
Under her river-banks trouts lie ; the seagulls wheeling round her
grand cliff answer one the other — at every fitting time delectable is
Arran !"
In another poem that Caoilte is fabled to have made after he
met and consorted with St. Patrick is a vivid description of a
freezing night as it appeared to a hunter. A great frost and
heavy snow had fallen upon the whole country, so that the
russet branches of the forest were twisted together, and men
could no longer travel. " A fitting time it is now," said
Caoilte, "for wild stags and for does to seek the topmost
points of hills and rocks ; a timely season for salmons to betake
them into cavities of the banks," and he uttered a lay.
" Cold the winter is, the wind is risen, the high-couraged unquelled
stag is on foot, bitter cold to-night the whole mountain is, yet for all
that the ungovernable stag is belling. 2
I " Oighe baetha ar a bennaib
Monainn maetha ar a mongaib,
Uisce fuar ina h-aibhnib,
Mes ar a dairghib donnaib."
Note the exquisite metre of this poem of which the above verse is a
specimen.
2 This, like most of the couple of thousand verses scattered throughout
the " Colloquy of the Ancients," is in Deibhidh metre, which would thus
run in English : —
II Cold the Winter, cold the Wind,
The Raging stag is Ravin'd,
Though in one Flag the Floodgates cling,
The Steaming Stag is belling."
508 LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
"The deer of Slievecarn of the gatherings commits not his side to
the ground ; no loss than he, the stag of frigid Echtge's summit who
catches the chorus of the wolves.
" I, Caoilte, with Brown Diarmuid, 1 and with keen, light-footed
( )scar ; we too in the nipping nights' waning end, would listen to the
music of the [wolf] pack.
" But well the red deer sleeps that with his hide to the bulging
rock lies stretched, hidden as though beneath the country's surface,
all in the latter end of chilly night.
" To-day I am an aged ancient, and but a scant few men I know ;
once on time, though, on a cold and icebound morning I used to
vibrate a sharp javelin hardily.
"To Heaven's King I offer thanks, to Mary Virgin's Son as well ;
often and often I imposed silence on [daunted] a whole host, whose
plight to-night is very cold [i.e., who are all dead now]."
It is curious that in the more modern Ossianic pieces, such
as the scribes of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries
delighted in transcribing, there is little mention made or
Caoilte, and the complaints about surviving the Fenians and
being vexed by the clerics are more usually put into the
mouth of Ossian.
Here is one of the moans of Ossian in his old age, when
fallen on evil times, and thwarted at every turn by St. Patrick
and his monks,
" Long was last night in cold Elphin, 2
More long is to-night on its weary way,
Though yesterday seemed to me long and ill,
Yet longer still was this dreary day.
1 This was Diarmuid of the Love-spot, who eloped with Grainne, and
was killed by the wild boar, from whom the Campbells of Scotland claim
descent, as is alluded to in Flora Mac Ivor's song in " Waverley " : —
" Ye sons of Brown Diarmuid who slew the wild boar."
a " Is fada anocht i n-Ailfinn,
Is fada linn an oidhche areir,
An la andhiu cidh fada dham,
Ba leor-fhad an hi ancle.
See p. 208 of my " Religious Songs of Connacht " for the original of this
poem, which I copied from a MS. in the Belfast Museum. The Dean <>i
Lismore in Argyle jotted this poem clown in phonetic spelling nearly
THE OS SI A NIC POEMS 509
And long for me is each hour new born,
Stricken, forlorn, and smit with grief
For the hunting lands and the Fenian bands,
And the long-haired, generous, Fenian chief.
I hear no music, I find no feast,
I slay no beast from a bounding steed,
I bestow no gold, I am poor and old,
I am sick and cold, without wine or mead.
I court no more, and I hunt no more,
These were before my strong delight,
I cannot slay, and I take no prey :
Weary the day and long the night.
No heroes come in their war array,
No game I play, there is nought to win ;
I swim no stream with my men of might,
Long is the night in cold Elphin.
Ask, O Patrick, thy God of grace,
To tell me the place he will place me in,
And save my soul from the 111 One's might,
For long is to-night in cold Elphin."
There is a considerable thread of narrative running through
these poems and connecting them in a kind of series, so that
several of them might be divided into the various books of
a Gaelic epic of the Odyssic type, containing instead of the
wanderings and final restoration of Ulysses, the adventures and
final destruction of the Fenians, except that the books would
be rather more disjointed. There is, moreover, splendid
four hundred years ago, but the name of Elphin, being strange to him, he
took the words to be na nenlla fum, "the clouds round me," ni nelli fiym
he spells it. Elphin is an episcopal seat in the county Roscommon, where
St. Patrick abode for a while when in Connacht. I often heard in that
county the story of Ossian meeting St. Patrick when drawing stones in
Elphin, but always thought that the people of Roscommon localised the
legend in their own county. But the discovery of the Belfast copy — and
I believe there is another one in the British Museum — -shows that this
was not so, and the Dean of Lismore's book proves the antiquity of the
legend. That Ailfinn (Elphin) was the original word is proved by
rhyming to linn, sinn and Finn, which Fiym (= fumj could not do.
5io LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
materia] for an ample epic in the division between the Fenians
of Minister and Connacht and the gradual estrangement of the
High-king, leading up to the fatal battle of Gabhra ; but the
material for this last exists chiefly in prose texts, not in the
Ossianic lays. It is very strange and very unfortunate that
notwithstanding the literary activity of Gaelic Ireland before
and during the penal times, no Keating, or Comyn, or Curtin
ever attempted to redact the Ossianic poems and throw them
into that epic form into which they would so easily and
naturally have fitted. These pieces appear to me of even
greater value than the Red Branch sagas, as elucidating the
natural growth and genesis of an epic, for the Irish progressed
just up to the point of possessing a large quantity of stray
material, minor episodes versified by anonymous long-forgotten
folk-poets ; but they never produced a mind critical enough
to reduce this mass to order, coherence, and stability, and at the
same time creative enough to itself supply the necessary lacunae.
Were it not that so much light has by this time been thrown
upon the natural genesis of ancient national epics, one might
be inclined to lay down the theory that the Irish had evolved
a scheme of their own, peculiar to themselves, and different
altogether from the epic, a scheme in which the same
characters figure in a group of allied poems and romances,
each of which, like one of Tennyson's idylls, is perfect in
itself, and not dependent upon the rest, a system which might
be taken to be a natural result of the impatient Celtic
temperament which could not brook the restraints of an epic.
The Ossianic lays are almost the only narrative poems
which exist in the language, for although lyrical, elegiac, and
didactic poetry abounds, the Irish never produced, except in
the case of the Ossianic epopees, anything of importance in a
narrative and ballad form, anything, for instance, of the nature
of the glorious ballad poetry of the Scotch Lowlands.
The Ossianic metres, too, are the eminently epic ones or
Ireland. It was a great pity, and to my thinking a great
THE OSSIANIC POEMS 511
mistake, for Archbishop Mac Hale not to have used them in
his translation of Homer, instead of attempting it in the metre
of Pope's Iliad — one utterly unknown to native Ireland.
I have already observed that great producers of literature as
the Irish always were — until this century — they never developed
a drama. The nearest approach to such a thing is in these
Ossianic poems. The dialogue between St. Patrick and Ossian
— of which there is, in most of the poems, either more or less —
is quite dramatic in its form. Even the reciters of the present
day appear to feel this, and I have heard the censorious self-
satisfied tone of Patrick, and the querulous vindictive whine of
the half-starved old man, reproduced with considerable humour
by a reciter. But I think it nearly certain — though I cannot
prove it * — that in former days there was real acting and a
dialogue between two persons, one representing the saint and
the other the old pagan. It was from a less promising
beginning than this that the drama of iEschylus developed.
But nothing could develope in later Ireland. Everything,
time after time, was arrested in its growth. Again and again
the tree of Irish literature put forth fresh blossoms, and before
they could fully expand they were nipped off. The conception
of bringing the spirit of Paganism and of Christianity together
in the persons of the last great poet and warrior of the one,
and the first great saint of the other, was truly dramatic in its
conception, and the spirit and humour with which it has been
carried out in the pieces which have come down to us are a
strong presumption that under happier circumstances something
great would have developed from it. If any one is still found
to repeat Macaulay's hackneyed taunt about the Irish race
never having produced a great poem, let him ask himself if it
is likely that a country, where, for a hundred years after
Aughrim and the Boyne, teachers who for long before that
1 I once saw a letter in an Irish-American paper by some one whose
name I forget, in which he alleged that in his youth he had actually
seen the Ossianic lays thus acted.
512 LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
had been in danger, were systematically knocked on the head,
or sent to a jail tor teaching; where children were seen learning
their letters with chalk on their father's tombstones — other
means being denied them ; where the possession of a manu-
script might lead to the owner's death or imprisonment, so that
many valuable books were buried in the ground, or hidden to
rot in walls * — whether such a country were a soil on which an
epic or anything else could flourish. How, in the face of all
this, the men of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries
preserved in manuscript so much of the Ossianic poetry as they
did, and even rewrote or redacted portions of it, as Michael
Comyn is said to have done to " Ossian in the Land of the
Ever- Young," is to me nothing short of amazing.
Of the authorship of the Ossianic poems nothing is known.
In the Book of Leinster are three short pieces ascribed to
Ossian himself, and five to Finn, and other old MSS. contain
poems ascribed to Caoilte, Ossian's companion and fellow
survivor, and to Fergus, another son of Finn ; but of the great
mass of the many thousand lines which we have in seventeenth
and eighteenth century MSS. there is not much which is
placed in Ossian's mouth as first hand, the pieces as I have said
generally beginning with a dialogue, from which Ossian
proceeds to recount his tale. But this dramatic form of the
lay shows that no pretence was kept up of Ossian's being the
singer of his own exploits. 2 From the paucity of the pieces
attributed to him in the oldest MSS. it is probable that the
Gaelic race only gradually singled him out as their typical
pagan poet, instead of Fergus or Caoilte or any other of his
1 Like the Book of Lismore and others. See Sullivan's preface to
O'Curry's " Manners and Customs.''
2 " Ich vermuthe," says Windisch (" Irische Texte," I. i. p. 63), "dass Ossin
(Ossian) auf dieser Wege zu einer Dichtergestalt geworden ist. Die
Gedichte die ihm in der Sage in den Mund gelegt werden, galten als sein
Werk und wuxsden allmahlig zum Typus einer ganzen Literaturgattung."
But the same should hold equally true of Caoilte, in whose mouth an
equal number of poems are placed.
THE OSSIANIC POEMS 513
alleged contemporaries, just as they singled out his father Finn,
as the typical pagan leader of their race ; and it is likely that a
large part of our Ossianic lay and literature is post-Danish,
while the great mass of the Red Branch saga is in its birth
many centuries anterior to the Norsemen's invasion. 1
1 The following Ossianic poems have been published in the "Trans-
actions of the Ossianic Society." In vol. iii., 1857, " The Lamentation of
Ossian after the Fenians," 852 lines. In vol. iv., 1859, "The Dialogue
between Ossian and Patrick," 684 lines ; "The Battle of Cnoc an Air,"
336 lines ; " The Lay of Meargach," 904 lines ; " The Lay of Meargach's
Wife," 388 lines ; " The names of those fallen at Cnoc an Air," 76 lines ;
" The Chase of Loch Lein," 328 lines ; "The Lay of Ossian in the Land of
the Ever- Young," 636 lines ; and some smaller pieces. Vol. vi., 1861,
contains: "The Chase of Slieve Guilleann," 228 lines; "The Chase of
Slieve Fuaid," 788 lines ; "The Chase of Glennasmoil," 364 lines ; "The
Hunt of the Fenians on Sleive Truim," 316 lines ; " The Chase of Slieve-
na-mon," 64 lines; "The Chase of the Enchanted Pigs of Angus of the
Boyne" [son of the Dagda], 280. lines ; "The Hunt on the borders of
Loch Derg," 80 lines ; " The Adventures of the Great Fool " [which,
however, is not an Ossianic poem], 632 lines.
I have in my own possession copies of several other Ossianic poems,
one of which, "The Lay of Dearg," in Deibhidh metre, consisting of 300
lines, is ascribed to Fergus, Finn's poet, not to Ossian.
" Is me Feargus, file Fhinn
De gnaith-fheinn Fhinn mhic Cumhail,
O thasg na bhfear sin nar lag
Trian a ngaisge ni inneosad."
In the library of the Franciscans' Convent in Dublin there is a
seventeenth-century collection of Ossianic poems, all in regular classical
metres, containing, as I have computed, not less than 10,000 lines. Not
one of these poems has been, so far as I know, ever published. The
poems printed by the Ossianic Society are not in the classical metres,
though I suspect many of them were originally so composed, but they
have become corrupted passing from mouth to mouth.
U
I
CHAPTER XXXVIII
THE LAST OF THE CLASSIC POETS
The first half of the seventeenth century saw an extraordinary
re-awakening of the Irish literary spirit. This was the more
curious because it was precisely at this period that the old
Gaelic polity with its tribal system, brehon law, hereditary
bards, and all its other supports, was being upheaved by main
force and already beginning to totter to its ruin. This was the
period when to aggravate what was already to the last degree
bitter — the struggle for the soil and racial feuds — a third dis-
astrous ingredient, polemics, stept in, and inflamed the minds
of the opposing parties, with the additional fanaticism of
religious hatred. Yet whether it is that their works have
been better preserved to us than those of any other century,
or whether the very nearness of the end inspired them to
double exertions, certain it is that the seventeenth century,
and especially the first half of it, produced amongst the Irish
a number of most gifted men of letters. Of these the so-
called Four Masters, Seathrun or Geoffrey Keating, Father
Francis O'Mulloy, Lughaidh [Lewy] O'Clery, and Duald
Mac Firbis were the most important of the purely Irish prose
writers, whilst Phillip O'Sullivan Beare, Father Ward, and
Father Colgan, John Lynch (Bishop of Killala), Luke Wadding,
C14
THE LAST OF THE CLASSIC POETS 515
and Peter Lombard (Archbishop of Armagh), reflected credit
upon their native country by their scholarship, and elucidated
its history chiefly through the medium of Latin, as did Ussher
and Sir James Ware, two great scholars of the same period
produced by the Pale.
The century opened with an outburst of unexpected vigour
on the part of the old school of Irish classical bards, over whose
head the sword was then suspended, and whose utter de-
struction, though they knew it not, was now rapidly approaching.
This outburst was occasioned by Teig mac Daire, 1 the ollamh
or chief poet of Donough O'Brien, fourth Earl of Thomond,
(whose star, thanks to English influence, was at that time in
the ascendant), making little of and disparaging in elaborate
verse the line of Eremon, 2 and the reigning families of Meath,
Connacht, Leinster, and Ulster, whilst exalting the kings of
the line of Eber, of whom the O'Briens were at that time the
greatest family. The form this poem took was an attack upon
the poems of Torna Eigeas, a poet who flourished soon after
the year 400, and who was tutor to Niall of the Nine Hostages,
but whose alleged poems I have not noticed, not believing those
attributed to him to be genuine, as they contain distinct Chris-
tian allusions, and as the language does not seem particularly
antique. The bards, however, accepted these pieces as the real
work of Torna, and Teig mac Daire now attacks him on
account of his partiality for the Eremonian Niall one thousand
two hundred years before, and argues that he had done
wrong, and that Eber, as the elder son of Milesius,
should have had the precedency over Ir and Eremon,
the younger children, and that consequently the princes
of Munster, who were Eberians, should take precedency
of the O'Nialls, O'Conors, and other Eremonians of the
Northern provinces, and of Leinster. Teig asserts that it
1 His real name was Mac Brodin, " Dare *' or Daire being his father's
name.
2 Sec above, p. 64.
516 /. / 77: A\ \RY HIS T( 1R V OF IRELAND
was Eber or Hebef, son of Milesius, from whom Ireland was
called Hiber-nia. This poem, which contained about one
hundred and fifty lines, began with the words Ok do thagrais a
"Thorna, "111 hast thou argued, O Torna," and was immediately-
taken up and answered by Lughaidh [Lewy] O'Clery, the
ollamh of the O'Donnells, in a poem containing three hundred
and forty lines, beginning " O Teig, revile not Torna." To
this Teig replied in a piece of six hundred and eighty-eight
lines, beginning Eist-se a Lughaidh re?n labhradh, "Listen to
my speech, O Lewy," and was again immediately answered in
a poem of about a thousand lines by O'Clery, beginning, Do
chuala ar thagrais a Thaidhg, " I have heard all that thou
hast argued, O Teig." In this poem O'Clery collects such
facts as he can find in history and in ancient authors, to prove
that the Eremonians had always been considered superior to
the Eberians in past ages. This called forth another rejoinder
from his opponent of one hundred and twenty-four lines, begin-
ning A Lughaidh labhram go seimh^ " Let us speak courteously,
O Lewy," which was in its turn answered by O'Clery in a poem
beginning Na brolsd mise a Mhic Dhaire y " Provoke me not, O I
son of Daire."
By this time the attention of the whole Irish literary world
had been centred upon this curious dispute, and on the attacks
and rejoinders of these leading poets representing the two great
races of Northern and Southern Ireland respectively. Soon the
hereditary poets of the other great Gaelic houses joined in, as
their own descent or inclination prompted. Fearfeasa O'Cainte,
Torlough O'Brien, and Art Og O'Keefe were the principal
supporters of Teig mac Daire and the Southern Eberians,
while Hugh O'Donnell, Robert Mac Arthur, Baoghalach ruadh
Mac Egan, Anluan Mac Egan, John O'Clery, and Mac
Dermot of Moylurg, defended Lewy and the Northern
Eremonians. For many years the conflict raged, and the verses
of both parties collected into a volume of about seven thousand
lines, is known to this day as " The Contention of the Poets."
THE LAST OF THE CLASSIC POETS $17
There is something highly pathetic in this last flickering up
of the spirit of the hereditary classical bards, who conducted
this dispute in precisely the same metre, language, tone, and style,
as their forefathers of hundreds of years before would have done
it, and who chose for the subject-matter of dispute an hereditary
quarrel of twelve hundred years' standing. Just as the ancient
history of the Irish began with the distinction between the
descendants of the sons of Milesius, of which we read so much
at the beginning of this volume, so on the self-same subject does
the literary spirit of the ancient time which had lasted with
little alteration from the days of St. Patrick, flare up into light
for a brief moment at the opening of the seventeenth century, ere
it expired for ever under the sword of Cromwell and of William.
It is altogether probable, however, that under the appearance
of literary zeal and genealogical fury, the bards who took part
in this contest were really actuated by the less apparent motive
of rousing the ardour of their respective chiefs, their pride of
blood, and their hatred of the intruder. If this, as I strongly
suspect, were the underlying cause of the " Contention," their
expiring effort to effect the impossible by the force of poetry —
the only force at their command — is none the less pathetic,
than would have been on the very brink of universal ruin, their
quarrelling, in the face of their common enemy, upon the foolish
old genealogies of a powerless past.
We know a good deal, however, about this Teig, son of
Daire, the ollamh of the O'Briens, of whose poetry, all
written in elaborate and highly-wrought classical metres, we
have still about three thousand four hundred lines. He possessed
down even to the middle of the seventeenth century a fine
estate and the castle of Dunogan with its appurtenances, which
belonged to him by right of his office, as the hereditary ollamh
of Thomond. He was hurled over a cliff* in his old age by a
soldier of Cromwell, who is said to have veiled after him with
> j
savage exultation as he fell, " Sav your rami now, little man." 1
1 Sec O'Flanagan's "Transactions of the Gaelic Society, 180S," p. 20.
5 1 S LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
A beautiful inauguration ode to the English-bred Donogh
O'Brien, fourth Karl of Thomdnd, proclaims him a bard of no
ordinary good sense and merit.
" Bring thy case before Him (God) every day, beseech diligently
Him from whom nothing may be concealed, concerning everything
of which thou art in care, Him from whom thou shalt receive relief.
" Run not according to thine own desire, O Prince of the Boru
tribute, let the cause of the people be thy anxiety, and that is not the
anxiety of an idle man.
" Be not thou negligent in the concerns of each : since it is thy due
to decide between the people, O smooth countenance, be easy of
access, and diligent in thine own interests.
" Give not thyself up to play nor wine nor feast nor the delight of
music nor the caresses of maidens ; measure thou the ill-deeds of
each with their due reward, without listening to the intervention
of thy council.
" For love, for terror, for hatred, do not pass (be thou a not-hasty
judge) a judgment misbecoming thee, O Donough — no not for bribes
of gold and silver." *
In another poem, Mac Daire warns the O'Briens to be advised
by him, and not plunge the province into war, and to take care
how they draw down upon themselves his animosity. Here
are a few of these verses, translated into the exact equivalent
of the Deibhidh metre in which they are written. They will
give a fair idea of a poet's arrogance.
" Tis not War we Want to Wage
With THomond THinned by outrage.
SLIGHT not Poets' Poignant spur
Of RIGHT ye Owe it honour.
Can there Cope a Man with Me
In Burning hearts Bitterly,
* " Ar ghradh ar uamhan, na ar fhuath
Na beir (bi ad* bhreitheamh neamh-luath)
Breith nar choir, a Dhonchadh, dhuit,
Ar chomhtliaibh oir na arguit."
This fine poem, containing in all 220 lines, was published by
O' Flanagan in 1808.
THE LAST OF THE CLASSIC POETS 519
At my BLows men BLUSH I wis,
Bright FLUSH their Furious Faces. 1
Store of blister-Raising Ranns
These are my Weighty Weapons,
Poisoned, STriking STRONG through men,
They Live not LONG so stricken.
SHelter from my SHafts or rest
Is not in Furthest Forest,
Far they FALL, words Soft as Snow,
No WALL can Ward my arrow. 2
To QUench in QUarrels good deeds,
To Raise up WRongs in hundreds,
To NAIL a NAME on a man,
I FAIL not — FAME my weapon."
The men who most distinguished themselves in the extra-
ordinary outburst of classical poetry that characterised the early
seventeenth century were Teig Dall O'Higinn, a poet of the
county Sligo, brother to the Archbishop of Tuam, and
Eochaidh [Yohy] O'Hussey, the chief bard of the Maguire of
Fermanagh. Teig Dall O'Higinn has left behind him at least
three thousand lines, all in polished classical metres, and
1 " Tig diom da ndearntaoi m'fioghal
Griosadh bhur ngruadh lasamhail,
Fios bhur gniomh a's gniomh bhur sean
Tig a sgrios diom no a ndidean."
tium a MS. of my own ; this poem contains a hundred lines.
2 " Ni bhi dion i ndiamhraibh gleann
Na i bhfiodh dhluith uaignach fhairseang,
Na i mur caomh cneas-aolta cuir,
Ag fear m'easaonta 6'm armuibh.
Muchadh deigh-ghniomh, deargadh gruadh,
Toirmeasg ratha re diombuan,
Cur anma a's eachta ar fhear
Creachta ar n-airm-ne re n-aireamh."
520 LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
O'Hussey nearly four thousand. Teig Dall was the author of
the celebrated poem addressed to Brian O'Rorke, urging him
to take up arms against Elizabeth on the principle "si vis
pacem para bellum : ,! it begins D'fhior cogaldh comhalltear
siothchain " to a man of war peace is assured," and it had the
desired effect. The verses of these bards throw a great deal of
light upon the manners customs and politics of the age.
There is a curious poem extant by this Teig Dall, in which
he gives a graphic account of a night he spent in the house of
Maolmordha Mac Sweeny, a night which the poet says he
will remember for ever. 1 He met on that memorable night
in that hospitable house Brian mac Angus Mac Namee, the
poet in chief to Torlogh Luineach O'Neill, Brian mac Owen
O'Donnellan, the poet of Mac William of Clanrickard, and
Conor O'Higinn, the bard of Mac William-Burke. Not only
did the chieftain himself, Mac Sweeny, pay him homage, but
he received presents — acknowledgment evidently of his
admitted genius — from the poets as well. Mac Sweeny gave
to him a dappled horse, one of the best steeds in Ireland, Brian
mac Angus gave him a wolf-dog that might be matched
against any ; while from Brian mac Owen he received a book
— " a full well of the true stream of knowledge," — in which
were writ " the cattle-spoils, courtships, and sieges of the
world, an explanation of their battles and progress, it was the
flower of the King-books of Erin." 2 Where, he asks, are all
those chiefs gone now ? Alas ! which is in perfect
Deibhidh metre.
" She who Rules the Race is one
sprung from the sparring Ternon,
MARY MILD of MIEN O'Rorke,
Our fairy child queen bulwark. 3
Da mairfeadh [sin] feav-scasta na gcruadh-thvodan
Feadh t'amhairc do bhiadh agat do'n tuaith 'na h-ait.
" O Flag, upon whom I see the melancholy growing,
Seldom was it thy lot to constantly guard the church (shut up
there) ;
If there lived the man-who-withstood the hard conflicts
Far-as-thy-eye-could-see thou wouldst have of the country in place
of it" [i.e., the church.]
(See Catalogue of the MSS. in the British Museum.)
1 The O'Curneens were, according to Mac Firbis's great Book of
Genealogies, the hereditary poets and ollamhs of the O'Rorkes, with
whom the O'Conors were closely related. The O'Conors' ollamh was
O'Mulchonry.
2 This poem begins —
" Togha teaghlaigh tar gach tir
Beul atha na gcarr gclaidh-mhin
Mur is failteach re hie
An dun dailteach deigh-inigh."
I.e., " A choice hearth beyond every country, is the mouth of the ford of
the cars [Belanagare] , the smooth-ditched. A fortress welcome-giving to
poet, the bestowing homestead of good generosity." The accented system
had now been in vogue for nearly a century and a half, and if O'Curneen
had wished to preserve an even rise and fall of accent in his verses (which
I he does do in his first line) he might have done so. That he did not do so,
.and that none of the straight-verse or classical poets attempted it, long
2 M
540 LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
Let me nay the puissant one
To Mark them in their Mansion,
Guard from fear their fame and wed
Each year their name and homestead."
In Munster I find the poet Andrew Mac Curtin some time
between the year 1718 and 1743, x complaining to James
Mac Donnell, of Kilkee, that he had to frame "a left-handed
awkward ditty of a thing," meaning a poem of the new
school ; " but I have had to do it," he says, " to fit myself in
with the evil fashion that was never practised in Erin before,
since it is a thing that I see, that greater is the respect and
honour every dry scant-educated boor, or every clumsy baogaire
of little learning, who has no clear view of either alliteration
or poetry, 2 gets from the noblemen of the country, than the
courteous very-educated shanachy or man of song, if he
compose a well-made lay or poem." Nevertheless, he insists
that he will make a true poem, " although wealthy men of
herds, or people of riches think that I am a fool if I compose a
lay or poem in good taste, that is not mv belief. Although
rich men of herds, merchants, or people who put out money to
grow, think that great is the blindness and want of sense to
after they had become acquainted with the other system, seems to me a
strong proof that they did not intend it, and that they really possessed no
system of " metrical accent " at all.
It is noticeable that O'Curneen wrote this poem in the difficult bardic
dialect, so that Charles O'Conor of Belanagare, whose native language
was Irish, was obliged in his copy to gloss over twenty words of it with |
more familiar ones of his own. These uncommon bardic terms were
wholly thrown aside by the new school.
1 His poem with its prose Irish preface is addressed to Sorley Mac Donnell,
and Isabel, his wife, who was an O'Brien. They were married in 1718, |
and Mac Donnell died in 1743. See a collection of poems written by the
Clare bards in honour of the Mac Donnells of Kilkee and Killone, in the
County of Clare, collected and edited by Brian O'Looney for Major
Mac Donnell, for private circulation in 1863.
2 "Nach leir do naim no aisde."
RISE OF A NEW SCHOOL 547
compose a duan or a poem, they being well satisfied if only they
can speak the Saxon dialect, and are able to have stock of
bullocks or sheep, and to put redness [/.*., of cultivation] on
hills — nevertheless, it is by me understood that they are very
greatly deceived, because their herds and their heavy riches shall
go by like a summer fog, but the scientific work shall be there
to be seen for ever," etc. The poem which he composed on
that occasion was, perhaps, the last in Deibhidh metre composed
in the province of Munster. 1
In Scotland the Deibhidh was not forgotten until after
SherifFmuir, in 1715. There is an admirable elegy of 220
lines in the Book of Clanranald on Allan of Clanranald, who
was there slain. 2 It is in no way distinguishable from an
Irish poem of the same period. There are other poems in this
book in perfect classical metres, for in the kingdom of the
Lord of the Isles the bards and their schools may be said to
have almost found a last asylum. Indeed, up to this period, so
far as I can see, — whatever may have been the case with the
spoken language — the written language of the two countries
was absolutely identical, and Irish bards and harpers found a
second home in North Scotland and the Isles, where such
poems as those of Gerald, fourth Earl of Desmond, appear to
have been as popular as they were in Munster. We may,
then, place the generation that lived between Sheriffmuir and
Culloden as that which witnessed the end of the classical
metres in both countries, over all Ireland and Gaelic-speaking
Scotland, from Sutherland in the North, to the County Kerry
in the South, so that, from that day to this, vowel-rhyming
accented metres which had been making their way in both
1 I have since, however, found a poem by Micheal og O'Longain, written
as late as 1800, which goes somewhat close to real Deibhidh. It begins —
"Tagraim libh a Chlann Eibhir,
Leath bhur luith nach Ian leir libh
Meala dhaoibh thar aoin eile
A dul d'eag do'n gaoidheilge."
2 Cameron's " Reliquiae Celtioe," vol. ii. p. 248.
548 LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
countries from a little before the year 1600, have reigned
without any rival.
Wonderful metres these were. Here is an example of one
made on the vowels e [a?] and 6, but while the arrangement in
the first half of the verse is o/e, e/o, e/o, o ; the arrangement
in the second half is o e, o e, o e, e. I have translated it in
such a way as to mark the vowel rhymes, and this will show
better than anything else the plan of Irish poetry during the
last 250 years. To understand the scheme thoroughly the
vowels must not be slurred over, but be dwelt upon and
accentuated as they are in Irish.
" The pOets with lAys are uprAising their notes
In amAze, and they knOw how their tones will delight,
For the g'Olden-hair lAdy so grAceful, so pOseful,
So gAElic, so glorious enthroned in our sight.
Unfolding a tAle, how the sOul of a f Ay must
Be clothed in the frAme of a lAdy so bright,
Untold are her grAces, a rOse in her f Ace is
And nO man so stAid is but f Aints at her sight." ■
Here is another verse of a different character, in which three
words follow each other in each line, all making a different
vowel-rhyme.
" O swan brightly GLEAMING o'er ponds whitely BEAMING,
Swim on lightly CLEAVING and flashing through sea,
The wan night is LEAVING my fond sprite in GRIEVING
Beyond sight, or SEEING thou'rt passing from me."
1 This is a poem by the Cork bard, Tadhg Gaolach O'Sullivan, who
died in 1800. He wrote this poem in his youth, before his muse gave
itself up, as it did in later days, to wholly religious subjects. In the
original the rhymes are on e and u.
" Taid Eigse 'gus ughdair go trupach ag plEireacht
So sugach, go sglEipeach 's a ndrEachta da snigheam
Ar SpEir-bhruinnioll mhi'inte do phlur-sgoth na h-Eireann
Do ur-chriostal gAolach a's rEiltion na righeacht ;
Ta fiunn-lil ag plEireacht mar dhubha ar an Eclips,
Go cludaighthe ag Phoiibus, le Aon-ghile gnaoi,
'Sgur'na gnuis mhilis licightear do thuhiing Cupid caEmh-ghlic
Ag muchadh 'sag milleadh lAochra le trEan-neart a shaoighid."
RISE OF A NEW SCHOOL 549
Here is another typical verse of a metre in which many
poems were made to the air of Moreen ni [nee] Cullenain. It
is made on the sounds of o, ee, ar — o, ar — o, repeated in the
same order four times in every verse, the second and third o's
being dissyllables. It is a beautiful and intricate metre.
" AlOne with mE a bARd rOving
On guARd going ere the dawn,
Was bold to sEB af AR rOaming
The stAR Moreen ni Cullenaun.
The Only shE the ARch-gOing
The dARk-flOwing fairy fawn,
With soulful glEE the lARks soaring
Like spARks O'er her lit the lawn." E
Here is another metre from a beautiful Scotch Gaelic
I poem. The Scotch Gaels, like the Irish, produced about
the same time a wonderful outburst of lyric poetry worthy
to take a place in the national literature beside the spirited
ballads of the Lowlands. Unlike the Lowlands, however,
1 neither they nor the Irish can be said to have at all
succeeded with the ballad.
" To a f AR mountain hARbour
Prince ChARlie came flYing,
The winds from the Highlands
Wailed wild in the air,
On his breast was no stAR,
And no guARd was beside him,
But a girl by him gliding
Who guided him there.
1 " D' easgadh an phcacaidJi t f6i'ior,
Do shcol sinn faoi dhlighthibh namhad,
Gan flathas Airt, ag for Gaoidlwnl,
Gan seoid puiini, gan cion gan aird,
'Sgach baihlach bracach bedl-bhiiidhe
De'n choip chrion do rith thai" sail
I gceannas flaith 's i gcoimh-tkighcas
Lc Motrin ni Chuillionain."
This is a verse from the same poem, but not the one above translated.
550 LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
Like a rAy went the mAiden
Still f Aithful, but mourning,
For ChARlie was pARting
From heARts that adored him,
And sighing beside him
She spied over Ocean
The Oarsmen before them
Approaching their lair." *
These beautiful and recondite measures were meant appa-
rently to imitate music, and many of them are wedded to
well-known airs. They did not all come into vogue at the
same time, but reached their highest pitch of perfection and
melody — melody at times exaggerated, too luscious, almost
cloying — about the middle of the eighteenth century, at
a time when the Irish, deprived by the Penal laws of all
possibility of bettering their condition or of educating them-
selves, could do nothing but sing, which they did in every
county of Ireland, with all the sweetness of the dying
swan.
Dr. Geoffrey Keating, the historian, himself said to have
been a casual habitue of the schools of the bards, and a close
friend of many of the bardic professors, was nevertheless one
1 See " Eachtraidh a' Phrionnsa le Iain Mac Coinnich," p. 270. The
poem is by D. B. Mac Leoid. It looks like a later production, but will
exemplify a not uncommon metre.
Gu cladach a' chuain
Ri/war-ghaoth an Anmoich
Thriall TeArlach gan deAllradh
Air Allaban 's e sgith,
Gun reull air a bhroilleach
No freiceadan a f Albh leis
Ach ainnir nan gorm-shul
Bu dealbhaiche lith.
Mar dhaoimean 'san oidhchc
Bha(n) mhaighdean fu ihiirsa
Si craitcach mu Thearlach
Bhifagail a dhiithcha ;
Bu trom air a h-osna,
S bu ghoirl deoir a siulcan
Nuair chonnaic i 'n iubhrach
A ' dluthadh re tir."
RISE OF A NEW SCHOOL 551
of the first to wring himself free from the fetters of the
classical metres, and to adopt an accented instead of a syllabic
standard of verse. We must now go back and give some
account of this remarkable man, and of some of his contem-
poraries of the seventeenth century.
CHAPTER XL
PROSE WRITERS OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY
During the first half of the seventeeth century, the Irish,
heavily handicapped as they were, and deprived of the power
of printing, nevertheless made tremendous efforts to keep
abreast of the rest of Europe in science and literature. It was
indeed an age of national scholarship which has never since
been equalled. It was this half century that produced in rapid
succession Geoffrey Keating, the Four Masters, and Duald Mac
Firbis, men of whom any age or country might be proud,
men who amid the war, rapine, and conflagration, that rolled
through the country at the heels of the English soldiers, still
strove to save from the general wreck those records of their
country which to-day make the name of Ireland honourable
for her antiquities, traditions, and history, in the eyes of the
scholars of Europe.
Of these men, Keating, as a prose writer, was the greatest.
He was a man of literature, a poet, professor, theologian, and
historian, in one. He brought the art of writing limpid Irish
to its highest perfection, and ever since the publication of his
history of Ireland some two hundred and fifty years ago, the
modern language may be said to have been stereotyped.
Born in Tipperary, not of a native Irish, but of an ancient
552
SEVENTEENTH CENTURY PROSE 553
Norman family, as he takes care to inform us, he was at an
early age sent to the Continent to be educated for the priest-
hood. There in the cloisters of some foreign seminary his
young heart was early rent with accounts of robbery, plunder,
and confiscation, as chieftain after chieftain was driven from
his home and patrimony, and compelled to seek asylum and
shelter from the magnanimous Spaniard. " The same to me,"
cries, in the hexameter of the Gael, some unhappy wanderer
contemporaneous with Keating, driven to find refuge where he
could, " the same to me are mountain or ocean, Ireland or
the West of Spain, I have shut and made fast the gates of
sorrow over my heart." I And there was scarcely a noble
family in any corner of the island whose members might not
have repeated the same. At this particular period there were
few priests of note who had not received a foreign education,
and few of the great houses who had not the most intimate
relations with France and Spain : indeed in the succeeding
century these two countries, especially France, stood to the
Irish Celts in nearly the same familiar relation as England
does at present.
After his return from Spain, Keating, now a doctor of
divinity, was appointed to a church in Tipperary, where his
fame as a preacher soon drew crowds together. Amongst
these arrived one day — unluckily for Keating, but luckily for
Ireland — a damsel whose relations with the English Lord
President of Munster were said not to bear the strictest
investigation, and it so chanced that the preacher's subject that
day was the very one which, for good reasons, least commended
itself to the lady. All eyes were directed against her, and she,
returning aggrieved and furious, instigated Carew to at once
put the anti-Popery laws in execution against Keating.
1 " Ionann dam sliabh a's saile
Eire a's iarthar Easpaine,
Do chuireas dunta go deas
Geata dluth ris an doilgheas."
Copied from a MS. in Trinity College. I forget its number.
5 5-} LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
The difficulties which the learned men of Ireland had to
fight their way through, even from the first quarter of the
seventeenth century, have scarcely been sufficiently understood
or appreciated, but they are well illustrated in the case of
Keating. It is usually assumed that the Penal laws did not
begin to operate to the intellectual ruin of the Irish until the
eighteenth century. But, in truth, the paths of learning and
progress were largely barred by them after the first quarter of the
seventeenth century. Already, as early as 1615, King James
had issued a commission to inquire into the state of education
in Ireland, and the celebrated Ussher, then Chancellor of St.
Patrick's, was placed at the head ot it. Ussher was far and
away the greatest scholar of the Pale in the seventeenth century,
and his efforts in the cause of Irish antiquities have received
deserved recognition from all native writers, and yet even
Ussher appears to have shut up remorselessly the native schools
wherever he found them, on the ground that the teachers
did not conform to the established religion. Here is how
he acted towards the father of the celebrated John Lynch,
the learned antiquarian and author of the " Cambrensis
Eversus," 1 who was at the head of a native college in
Galway.
" We found," says Ussher, " at Galway a publique schoolmaster,
named Lynch, placed there by the cittizens, who had great numbers
of schollers not only out of the province [of Connacht] but (even)
out of the ' Pale ' and other partes resorting to him. Wee had
proofe during our continuance in that citty, how his schollers
profntted under him by the verses and orations which they presented
us. Wee sent for that schoolemaster before us, and seriously
advised him to conform to the religion established ; and not prevail-
ing with our advices, we enjoy ned him to forbear teaching ; and I,
the Chancellour, did take recognizance of him and some others of
his relatives in that citty, in the sum of 400 li sterling [at that time,
fully equal to ^2,000] to his Majesty's use, that from thenceforth he
1 Published by the Celtic Society in 1848, in 3 vols., with a translation
and copious notes.
SEVENTEENTH CENTURY PROSE 555
should forbeare to teach any more, without the speciall license of
the Lord Deputy." 1
Twelve years later we find this enlightened and really great
scholar lending all his authority to a pronouncement headed :
" The judgment of divers of the Archbishops and Bishops
of Ireland concerning toleration of Religion," in which he thus
delivers himself : — ■
" The religion of the Papists is superstitious and idolatrous, their
faith and doctrine erroneous and heretical ; their church in respect
of both apostatical. To give them therefore a toleration is to
consent that they may freely exercise their religion and profess their
faith and doctrine, and is a grievous sin, and that in two respects :
"1. It is to make ourselves accessory not only to their superstitious
idolatries and heresies, and in a word to all the abominations of
Popery, but also (which is a consequent of the former) to the
perdition of the seduced people which perish in the deluge of the
Catholick apostacy.
" 2. To grant them toleration in respect of any money to be given
or contribution to be made by them, is to set religion at sale, and
with it the souls of the people whom Christ our Saviour hath
redeemed with His most precious blood," etc.
This document was signed by James Ussher, of Armagh,
Primate, with eleven other bishops, and promulgated on the
23rd of April, 1627. 2
It may have been in consequence of the fresh fillip thus given
to a policy which had till then been largely in abeyance — for
fear of provoking physical resistance — that Carew, already
incited against Keating by his lady friend, sent out a force
1 Regal Visitation Book, a.d. 1622, MS. in Marsh's Library, Dublin,
quoted by D'Arcy McGee in his " Irish Writers of the Seventeenth Century,"
p. 85 ; but Hardiman, in his " West Connaught," no doubt rightly gives the
date of this visitation as 1615. A writer in the " Dublin Penny Journal,"
identified this schoolmaster with the author of the " Cambrensis Eversus,"
but Hardiman shows that it must have been his father. See n West
Connaught," p. 420 note.
2 Elrington's great edition of Ussher's works in 17 vols., but I have not
noted volume or page.
556 LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
of soldiers to seize him and bring him a prisoner into Cork.
Keating, however, received information of the design, and fled
into the famous Glen of" Aherlow, where he remained for some
years effectually hidden. It was at this time, that finding
himself unable to continue his priestly labours, he conceived
the ambitious design of writing a history of Ireland from the
earliest times down to the Norman Conquest. In pursuance
of this intention he is said to have travelled in disguise up and
down through the island to consult the ancient vellum books,
at that time still preserved in the families of the hereditary
brehons or in the neighbourhood of the ancient monasteries,
which are said to have been everywhere gladly shown to him
except in the province of Connacht and parts of Ulster, where
some of the old families refused to allow him to inspect their
books because he was a Norman by race and not a Gael !
" I conceive," says Keating, in his preface, " that my testimony
ought the more readily to be admitted from the fact that I treat
therein more particularly of the Gaels, and if any man deem that I
give them too much credit, let him not imagine that I do so through
partiality, praising them more than is just through love of my own
kindred, for I belong, according to my own extraction, to the Old
Galls or the Anglo-Norman race. I have seen that the natives of
Ireland are maligned by every modern Englishman who speaks of
the country. For this reason, being much grieved at the unfairness
those writers have shown to Irishmen, I have felt urged to write a
history of Ireland myself."
The value of Keating's history is very great to the student
of Irish antiquity, not because of any critical faculty on the
part of Keating himself, for (perhaps luckily) this was a gift
he was not endowed with, but on account of the very lack
y
of it. What Keating found in the old vellums of the monas-
teries and the brehons, as they existed about the year 1630 —
they have, many of them, perished since — he rewrote and
redacted in his own lano;ua2;e like another Herodotus. He
invents nothing, embroiders little. What he does not find
before him, he does not relate, ov$e yap ovv Xtyeraij as is the
SEVENTEENTH CENTURY PROSE 55;
formula of Herodotus. He composed his history in the south
of Ireland, at nearly the same time that the Four Masters in
the north of Ireland were collecting the materials for their
annals, and though he wrote currente calamo^ and is in matters
of fact less accurate than they are, yet his history is an inde-
pendent compilation made from the same class of ancient
vellums, often from the very same books from which they
also derived their information, and it must ever remain a
co-ordinate authority to be consulted by historians along with
them and the other annalists. 1
The opening words of his history may serve as a specimen
of his style. It begins thus —
" Whoever sets before him the task of inquiring into and investi-
gating the history and antiquity of any country, ought to adopt the
mode that most clearly explains its true state, and gives the most
correct account of its inhabitants. And because I have undertaken
to write and publish a history of Ireland, I deem myself obliged to
complain of some of the wrongs and acts of injustice practised
towards its inhabitants, as well towards the Old Galls [Anglo-
Normans], who have been in possession of the country for more
than four centuries since the English invasion, as towards the Gaels
themselves, who have owned it for three thousand years. For there
is no historian who has written upon Ireland since the English
invasion, who does not strive to vilify and calumniate both Anglo-
Irish colonists and the Gaelic natives. We have proofs of this in the
accounts of the country given by Cambrensis, Spenser, Stanihurst,
1 The books of ancient authority which Keating quotes as still existing
in his own day, are the Psalter of Cashel, compiled by Cormac mac Culinan ;
the Book of Armagh, apparently a different book from that now so-called ;
the Book of Cluain-Aidnech-B'intan in Leix, the Book of Glendaloch, the
Book of Rights, the [now fragmentary] Leabhar na h-Uidhre, the Yellow
Book of Moling, the Black Book of Molaga. He also mentions the Book of
Conquests, the Book of the Provinces [a book of the genealogies of the
Gaelic tribes of each province], the Book of Reigns [said to have been
written by Gilla Kevin, a bard of the eleventh century], the Book of Epochs,
the Book of Synchronisms [by Flann of the Monastery], the Dinnseanchus
[a book of the etymologies, and history of names and places, published
from various MSS. by Whitley Stokes, in the " Folklore Review"], the Book
of the Pedigrees of Women, and a number of others.
558 LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
II. miner, Camden, Barclay, Morrison, Davis, Campion, and all the
writers of the New Galls [i.e., later English settlers] who have
treated of this country. So much so that when they speak of the
Irish one would imagine that these men were actuated by the
instinct of the beetle r ; for it is the nature of this animal, when it
raises its head in the summer to flutter about without stooping to
the fair flowers of the meadow or to the blossoms of the garden —
not though they be all roses and lilies — but it bustles hurriedly
around until it meets with some disgusting ordure, and it buries
itself therein. So it is with the above-named writers. They never
allude to the virtues and the good customs of the old Anglo-Irish
and Gaelic nobility who dwelt in Ireland in their time. They write
not of their piety or their valour, or of what monasteries they
founded, what lands and endowments they gave to the Church, what
immunities they granted to the ollamhs, their bounty to the ecclesi-
astics and prelates of the Church, the relief they afforded to orphans
and to the poor, their munificence to men of learning, and their
hospitality to strangers, which was so great that it may be said, in
truth, that they were not at any time surpassed by any nation of
Europe in generosity and hospitality, in proportion to the abilities
they possessed. Witness the meetings of the learned which they
used to convene, a custom unheard of amongst other nations of
Europe. And yet nothing of all this can be found in the English
writers of the time, but they dwell upon the customs of the vulgar,
and upon the stories of ignorant old women, neglecting the illus-
trious action of the nobility, and all that relates to the ancient Gaels
that inhabited this island before the invasion of the Anglo-Normans."
Keating's history 2 was perhaps the most popular book ever
written in Irish, and, as it could not be printed, it was propa-
1 " Innus gur ab e nos, beagnach, an phrimpollain do ghnid, ag scriobhadh
ar Eirionchaibh."
2 The first volume of Keating's History was published in Dublin by
Halliday, in 1811, but that brilliant young scholar did not live to complete
it. John O'Mahoney, the Fenian Head Centre, published a splendid
translation of the whole work from the best MSS. which in his exile he
was able to procure, in New York in i860, but its introduction into the
United Kingdom was prohibited on the grounds that it infringed copy-
right. Dr. Todd remarks on this translation, " notwithstanding the
extravagant and very mischievous political opinions avowed by Mr.
O'Mahoney, his translation of Keating is a great improvement upon the
ignorant and dishonest one published by Mr. Dermod O'Connor more
than a century ago," — a foolish remark of Dr. Todd's, who must have
SEVENTEENTH CENTURY PROSE 559
gated by hundreds of manuscript copies all over the island.
He is the author of two other voluminous books of a theolo-
gical and moral nature, called the " Key to the Shield of the
Mass," and the " Three Shafts of Death." Keating was witty,
and very fond of a good story. Here is a specimen which I
translate from his latter work. Pirates were a familiar feature
in the life of Keating's day, and he tells the following amusing
tale of one engaged in this trade, probably an O'Driscoll.
Talking of the fruit of this world Keating remarks that
though it tastes sweet it ends bitterly.
THE STORY OF MAC RAICIN.
" I think it happens to many a one in this world as it did to the
wild and ignorant Kerne from the west of Munster who went aboard
a warship to seek spoils on the ocean. And he put ashore in
England, and at the first town that they met on land the towns-
people came to welcome them and bring them to their houses to
entertain them, for the people of the town were mostly innkeepers.
And the Kerne wondered at their inviting himself, considering that
he did not know any of them. But he himself and some of the
people who were with him went to the house of one of them, to the
inn, and the people of the house were very kind to them for a week,
so that what between the cleanliness of the abode, and the excellence
of his bed, food, and drink, the Kerne thought his position a delight-
ful one.
" However, when he and his company were taking their leave the
innkeeper called the accountant he had, saying, ' make reckoning]
that means in Irish, ' pay your bill,' and with that the accountant
came, and he commenced to strip the people so that they were
obliged to give full payment for everything they had had in the
house while there, and they were left bare when they went away.
understood that most readers of Keating are to be found amongst men to
whom his own political opinions thus unnecessarily vented, were equally
"mischievous." Dr. Robert Atkinson published the Text of the ''Three
Shafts of Death " without a translation, but with a most carefully-compiled
and admirable glossary in 1890. Keating's third work has never been
published, but I printed some extracts from a good MS. of it lent me by
the O'Conor Don in an American paper. My friend Mr. John Mac Neill
has pointed me out what is apparently a fourth work of Keating's on the
Blessed Virgin.
$6o LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
And, moreover, the Kerne wondered what was the cause of himself
and the others being plundered like that, for before this he had
never known food to be bought or sold.
"And when he came to Erin his friends began asking him to give
an account of England, lie began to tell them, and said that he
never did see a land that was better off for food and drink, lire and
bedding, or more pleasant people, and I don't know a single fault
about it, says he, except that when strangers arc taking leave of the
people who entertain them, there comes down on them an infernal
horrid wretch that they call Mac Rakeen l (make reckoning) who
handles strangers rudely, and strips and spoils them."
Keating then draws the moral in his own way, " that land
of England is the world ; the innkeepers, the world, the flesh,
and the devil ; the Kerne, people in general ; and Mac Rakeen
the Death."
During the time when Keating was in hiding he is said to
have visited Cork and to have transcribed manuscripts which
he required for the purposes of his history almost under the very
eyes of the Lord President himself, and to have visited Dublin
in the same manner. After the departure of Carew he re-
appeared, and seems to have died quietly as parish priest of
Tubrid in Tipperary about the year 1650.
Almost every native scholar produced by Ireland during the
seventeenth century seems to have been hampered by persecution
in the same way as Keating, and loud and bitter were the com-
plaints of the Irish at the policy of the English Government in
cutting them off from education. Peter Lombard, the Catholic
Archbishop of Armagh, who died in 1625, and who wrote in
Latin and published — of course abroad, he would not well do it at
home — a "Commentary on the Kingdom of Ireland," assures his
countrymen and all Europe that it had been the steady plan
of the English Government to cut off education from the Irish,
and to prevent them having a university of their own, despite the
1 From the Kerne's, who was of course utterly ignorant of English,
mistaking " make " for the Irish " Mac," it is plain that the ancient pronun-
ciation of this word (Anglo-Saxon macian) had not then been lost.
SEVENTEENTH CENTURY PROSE 561
keen longing which his countrymen had for liberal studies, and
the way in which they had always hitherto distinguished them-
selves in them. Even, he asserts, whilst England was still
Catholic, her policy had been the same, and when the question
of an Irish university was being debated in the English Council
it had no bitterer enemy than a celebrated Catholic bishop.
When some one afterwards remonstrated with this dignitary
for opposing a work at once so holy and so salutary as the
establishment of a Catholic university in Ireland, the answer
made him was that it was not as a Catholic bishop he opposed
it, but as an English senator. 1 " Well for him," remarks
Lombard grimly, " if in the council of God and his saints, when
the severe sentence of the Deity is passed upon the bishop,
the senator by a like display of nimble wit may escape it."
When the university, so long and so anxiously sought for,
was actually founded, " most capacious, most splendid," as
Lombard puts it, at their expense^ in the shape of Trinity
College, Dublin, and they found themselves excluded from its
benefits, their indignation, as expressed by Lombard and others,
knew no bounds. 2 But their indignation was of little use,
1 " Cum Hiberni et bene sint affecti, et insigniter idonei ad studia
literarum et liberalium artium, utpote ingeniis bonis et acutis passim
praediti, non potuit hactenus oblineri unquam a praefectis Anglis ut in
Hibernia Universitas studiorum erigeretur. Imo dum aliquando de ea
re etiam, Catholico tempore, in Concilio Angliae propositio fieret, obstitit
acerrime unus e primariis Senatoribus, et ipse quidem Celebris episcopus,
quern cum postea alius quidam admoneret, mirari se quod is utpote
episcopus Catholicus tarn sanctum atque salutare opus impediret.
Respondit ille se non ut Episcopum Catholicae Ecclesias sed ut Senatorem
regni Angliae sententiam istam in concilio protulisse, qua opus istud
impediretur.
" Quod bene forte se haberet si in Concilio Dei et Sanctorum ejus quando
de Episcopo severior daretur sententia, ab ea, pari posset acumine Senator
liberari " (" De Hibernia Commcntarius." Louvain, 1632).
2 "Toties requisita studiorum Universitas ante annos aliquot erectum fuit
decreto Reginae (tametsi sumptibus Indigenarum) juxta civitatem
I Dubliniensem, capacissimum et splendidissimum collegium, in quo ordi-
1 natum est ut disciplinae omnes liberales traderentur, sed ab hrereticis
i magistris, quales cum Hibernia nequaquam subministraret ex Anglia
2 N
562 LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
because they could not back it by their arms, and when they
did so, they were beaten by Cromwell, and their last state
rendered twenty times worse than their first.
Mac Firbis was another native Irish author of great learning
who wrote in Irish contemporaneously with Keating. He was
himself descended from Dathi, the last pagan monarch of
Ireland, and his family had been for time out of mind the
hereditary historians of North Connacht. The great Book of
Lecan was compiled by one of his ancestors. His own greatest
surviving work is his Book of Genealogies which contains
enough to fill thirteen hundred pages of O'Donovan's edition of
the "Four Masters." This he compiled during the horrors of
the Cromwellian war, simply as a labour of love, and in the
hope that at least the names and genealogies of the nation
might be saved to posterity out of what then seemed the ruin
of all things. Another book of his was a catalogue of Irish
writers. 1 Mac Firbis mentions that even in his own day he
had known Irish chieftains who governed their clans accord-
ing to the " words of Fithal and the Royal Precepts,"
that is, according to the books of the Brehon law. He also
compiled or wrote out the " Chronicon Scotorum," apparently
from old manuscripts preserved in his family. He compiled, too,
a glossary of the ancients laws, of which only a fragment exists,
and made copies of five other ancient glossaries and law tracts.
He says himself, in his Book of Genealogies, that he had
compiled a dictionary of the Brehon laws in which he had given
submissi sunt. Qui pro sua etiam propaganda et confirmanda religions,
insuper acceperunt, et munus prasdicandi doctrinam suam Evangelicam
in civitate Dublinensi et mandatum exigendi juramentum, supremae
potestatis Reginae in rebus ecclesiasticis, ab adolescentibus quos in Uteris
instituebant," etc.
These extracts show the light in which the native Irish regarded the
foundation of Trinity College.
1 The late Mr. Hennessy I believe discovered and made a transcript of
a portion of this book, which is in the Royal Irish Academy, but I have
been unable to lay my hands on it.
SEVENTEENTH CENTURY PROSE 563
extensive explanations of them. His genealogical volume is
divided into nine books. The first treats of Partholan, the
second of the Nemedians, the third of the Firbolg, the fourth
of the Tuatha De Danann, the fifth of the Milesians, chiefly
the Eremonians, the sixth of the Irians and the Eremonian
tribes that went under the generic name of the Dal Fiatach,
the seventh of the Eberians and of the Ithians of Munster, the
eighth of the Saints of Ireland, and the ninth and last treats or
the families descended from the Fomorians, Danes, Saxons,
and Anglo-Normans.
" Here," says Mac Fir bis, " is the distinction which the profound
historians draw between the three different races which are in Erin.
Every one who is white of skin, brown of hair, bold, honourable,
daring, prosperous, bountiful in the bestowal of property wealth and
rings, and who is not afraid of battle or combats, they are the
descendants of the sons of Milesius in Erin.
" Every one who is fair-haired, vengeful, large, and every plunderer,
every musical person, the professors of musical and entertaining
performances, who are adepts in all druidical and magical arts, they
are the descendants of the Tuatha De Danann in Erin. 1
" Every one who is black-haired, who is a tattler, guileful, tale-
telling, noisy, contemptible, every wretched, mean, strolling, unsteady,
harsh, and inhospitable person, every slave, every mean thief, every
churl, every one who loves not to listen to music and entertainment,
the disturbers of every council and every assembly, and the pro-
moters of discord among people, these are of the descendants of the
Firbolg, of the Gailiuns, 2 of Liogairne, and of the Fir Domhnann in
Erin. But, however, the descendants of the Firbolg are the most
numerous of all these.
" This is taken from an old book. And, indeed, that it is possible to
identify a race by their personal appearance and dispositions I do
not take upon myself positively to say, for it may have been true in
the ancient times, until the race became repeatedly intermixed. For
we daily see even in our own time, and we often hear it from our old
men, that there is a similitude of people, a similitude of form, cha-
racter, and names in some families of Erin compared with others."
1 It must be observed that no Irish family is traced to a Tuatha De
Danann ancestry.
2 O'Curry. MS. Mat. p. 224. For a very different estimate of the
Gailiuns or Gaileoins, see above p. 323.
564 LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
Mac Firbis's book, which is an enlarged continuation down
to the year 1650 or so, of the genealogical trees contained in
the Books of Leinster, Ballymote, and Lecan, is as O'Curry
remarks, perhaps the greatest national genealogical compilation
in the world, and it is sad to think that almost every tribe and
family of the many thousands mentioned in this great work
has either been utterly rooted out and exterminated, or else
been dispersed to the four winds of heaven, and the entire
genealogical system and tribal polity, kept with such care for
fifteen hundred years, has disappeared ofF the face of the earth
with the men who kept it.
Lughaidh [Lewy] O'Clery, the great northern poet, ollamh
and historian of the O'Donnells, who, in the " Contention of
the Bards " opposed Mac Daire, lived somewhat earlier than
Keating and Mac Firbis. He has left behind him, written in the
difficult archaic Irish of the professional ollamhs, an interesting
life of Red Hugh O'Donnell, giving the history of the time
from 1586 to 1602, 1 with a full account of his hero's birth, his
treacherous capture and confinement in Dublin Castle, his
escape and recapture, his second escape, and the hardships he
underwent in returning to his people in Donegal, his inaugu-
ration as the O'Donnell, and his " crowded hour of glorious
life," until his death at Simancas in 1608, poisoned as we now
know almost to a certainty, from the publication of the State
Papers, by an emissary of Mountjoy the Lord Deputy, and
Carew the President of Munster. Of this, however, Lughaidh
O'Clery had no suspicion, he only tells of the sudden and un-
1 It is a mere accident that this valuable work has survived. The only
known copy of it is in the handwriting of Lughaidh's son Cucogry, and
the book was unknown to O'Reilly when he compiled his " Irish Writers."
It was handed down in the O'Clery family until it came to Patrick O'Qlery
who lent it to O'Reilly, the lexicographer, some time after 1817, and,
O'Reilly dying, the book was sold at his auction in spite of the protests
of poor O'Clery. It is now in the Royal Irish Academy and has been
edited by the late Father Denis Murphy, S.J., in 1893, whose translation
I have for the most part followed. The text of this biography would fill
about 150 pages of this book.
SEVENTEENTH CENTURY PROSE 565
expected sickness which overtook O'Donnell and killed him
after sixteen days, to the utter ruin of the cause of Ireland.
Here is his account, which I give as a specimen of his style,
of O'Donnell's preparations before the Battle of the Curlews :
"The occupation of O'Donnell's forces during the time that he
was in this monastery was exercising themselves and preparing for
the fight and for the encounter which they were called to engage in.
They were cleaning and getting ready their guns, and drying and
exposing to the sun their grain powder, and filling their pouches, and
casting their leaden bullets and heavy spherical balls, sharpening
their strong-handled spears and their war-pikes, polishing their long
broadswords and their bright- shining axes, and preparing their arms
and armour and implements of war."
O'Donnell's address to his soldiers is quite differently re-
corded from the way in which O'Sullivan Beare relates it ; it is
much less ornate and eloquent, but is probably far more nearly
correct, for Lughaidh O'Clery may very well have heard it
delivered himself, and it had not passed with him through the
disfiguring medium of the Latin language.
" We, though a small number," said O'Donnell, " are on the side of
the right as it seems to us, and the English whose number is large
are on the side of robbery, in order to rob you of your native land
and your means of living, and it is far easier for you to make a brave,
stout, strong fight for your native land and your lives whilst you are
your own masters and your weapons are in your hands, then when
you are put into prison and in chains after being despoiled of your
weapons, and when your limbs are bound with hard, tough cords of
hemp, after being broken and torn, some of you half dead, after you
are chained and taken in crowds on waggons and carts through the
streets of the English towns through contempt and mockery of you.
My blessing upon you, true men. Bear in your minds the firm re-
solution that you had when such insults and violence were offered to
you (as was done to many of your race) that this day is the day of
battle which you have needed to make a vigorous fight in defence of
your liberty by the strength of your arms and by the courage of your
hearts, while you have your bodies under your own control and your
weapons in your hands. Have no dread nor fear of the great
numbers of the soldiers of London, nor of the strangeness of their
566 LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
weapons and arms, but put your hope and confidence in the God of
glory, I am certain if ye take to heart what I say the foreigner must
be defeated and ye victorious."
O'CIery's summing up of the effects of the fatal battle of
Kinsale, almost the only battle in which the Irish were de-
feated throughout the whole war, is pathetic.
" Though there fell," he writes, " but so small a number of the
Irish in that battle of Kinsale, that they would not perceive their
absence after a time, and, moreover, that they did not perceive
it themselves then, yet there was not lost in one battle fought in the
latter times in Ireland so much as was lost then.
" There was lost there, first, that one island which was the richest
and most productive, the heat and cold of which were more tempe-
rate than in the greater part of Europe, in which there was much
honey and corn and fish, many rivers, cataracts, and waterfalls, in
which were calm productive harbours, qualities which the first man
of the race of Gaedhal Glas, son of Niall, who came to Ireland be-
held in it. . . There were lost, too, those who escaped from it of the
free, generous, noble-born descendants of the sons of Milesius and
of the prosperous, impetuous chiefs, of the lords of territories and
tribes, and of the chieftains of districts and cantreds, for it is absolutely
certain that there were never in Erin at any time together men who
were better and more famous than the chiefs who were then, and who
died afterwards in other countries one after the other, after their
being robbed of their fatherland and their noble possessions which
they left to their enemies on that battle-field. Then were lost besides,
nobility and honour, generosity and great deeds, hospitality and
goodness, courtesy and noble birth, polish and bravery, strength
and courage, valour and constancy, the authority and the sovereignty
of the Irish of Erin to the end of time."
An interesting prose work, evidently written by an eye-
witness, exists of the wanderings of O'Neill and O'Donnell
upon the Continent after they had fled from Ireland in 1607.
It describes how they were driven by a storm past Sligo
harbour and past the Arran islands, where they were unable to
land for fear of the king's shipping then in Galway bay. For
thirteen days they were hurried along by a tremendous storm.
The narrator notes a curious incident which took place during
SEVENTEENTH CENTURY PROSE 56;
the rough weather at open sea : two merlin falcons descended
and alit upon the ship, which were caught by the sailors who
kept and fed them ; they were ultimately given by O'Neill to
the governor of a French town. After long buffeting by the
storm and after hopelessly losing their way they fell in with three
Danish ships who informed them that they were in Flemish
waters. They were afterwards nearly wrecked on the coast of
Guernsey, and finally, after twenty-one days at sea, they
managed with the utmost difficulty to put in at " Harboure de
Grace," on the French coast, just as their provisions had run
out. Their reception by the French king, the machinations of
the English ambassador against them, and their journey into
Spain x are minutely described, evidently by some one who had
been in their own company, probably a Franciscan friar.
Their life and adventures in Spain are minutely recounted
down to the period of O'Donnell's death, who was
treacherously poisoned by an emissary from Carew, the Presi-
dent of Munster, with the sanction of Mountjoy, the Lord
Deputy. It is noticeable that the Irish biographer enter-
tained no suspicion of this foul crime, which has, as we have
said, only come to light through the publication of the State
Papers during the last few years. 2
Another curious piece of historical narrative by a re-
ligious is the account given of the Irish wars from
1 This interesting work, though drawn on by Father Meehan, seems to
be unknown to Irish scholars. It contains 135 closely written pages. It
was discovered in Colgan's cell at Louvain after his death, and is now
amongst the uncatalogued manuscripts in the Franciscan's Monastery in
Dublin, where it escaped the research of the late Sir John Gilbert, who
catalogued their books for the Government, and of M. de Jubainville, who
also spent some clays in examining their MSS. I owe its discovery to the
courtesy of the learned librarian, Father O'Reilly, who has permitted me
to make a transcript of it for future publication.
2 Here is a specimen of the language of this book : " Do rala ambasadoir
rig Saxan sa gcathra/^/j in tan sin. Bui ag denomh a landithill aidhmhillte
ocus urchoide do na maithip dia madh eidir leiss. Teid sin a ndimhaoi-
neass ocus a mitharbha, oir ni thug in Ri audiens no eisteacht go feadh In
li'i do acht ag dho] dfiadhach gach laithc"
-,0S 1 1 TER. IRY HISTOR Y OF IRELAND
November, 1 641, to January, 1647, by a northern friar called
O'Mellon, who was an eye-witness of much of what he
relates. 1
Of a somewhat similar nature is the interesting account of
Montrose's wars in the Book of Clanranald, a manuscript
written in pure Irish and in Irish characters, by a Gael from
the Islands, Niall Mac Vurich, the hereditary bard and
historian of the Clanranald. 2 The Mac Vurichs, who are
descended from a celebrated bard, Muireach 0'Daly,3 who fled
into Scotland from O'Donnell about the year 1200, enjoyed
the farm of Stailgarry and the " four pennies of Drimsdale,
in South Uist, down to the middle of the last century, by
virtue of their hereditary office." The object of Mac Vurich
in writing the history of Montrose's campaign is to vindicate
and extol the career of Alaster Mac Donald and the Gael.
" Nothing," says the writer, " is here written except of the
people whom I have seen myself and with a part of whose
deeds I am acquainted from my own recollection." He gives
detailed accounts of several of Montrose's battles in which the
Gael, Irish and Scottish, were engaged. His account of the
fight of Auldearn is an interesting specimen of his style. He
tells us how Alaster Mac Donald, son of Coll Ciotach, son of
Gillespie,4 commanded on the right of the army that day, and
was in the act of marshalling his foot when
1 Here is a specimen of the language of this work which is much
shorter than the account of O'Neill's and O'Donnell's wanderings ; there
is a fine copy of it made by O' Curry from the original in the Royal Irish
Academy, which fills one hundred pages : " Fagbadh na croidheachta
[what the English called creaghts] bochta, rugadar leo a ttoil fein diobh,
an chuid do imthigh dona croidheachtaibh sios suas sair siar. Ann do
marbhadh Cormac Ua Hagan mac Eoghain, oc oc as bocht ! S do bhi
Sior Feidhlinn a Cill Cainnigh an tan so. Do cuaidh cuid dinn don
Breifni, cuid dinn go Conndae Arda Macha, co Conndae Tir Eoghain, co
condae Luth," etc.
2 Published in " Reliquiae Celticae," vol ii. p. 149, with an interesting
introduction, but a most inaccurate translation.
3 See pp 491-2 for an account of this O'Daly.
4 These are the names alluded to by Milton in his famous sonnetj on
SEVENTEENTH CENTURY PROSE 569
" a gentleman from Lord Gordon came with a message to him
and spoke in this manner : ' Mac Donald, we have heard that there
was an agreement and a friendship between our ancestors, and that
they did not strike a blow against one another, whatever strife might
have been between the other Scots and them ; neither was the fame
of any other tribe for valour greater than theirs ; therefore, by wa3'
of renewing the agreement, I would wish to receive a favour from
you, namely, an exchange of foot on the first day of my service to
my earthly king, that is, you taking my foot forces and you sending
me your own.
" That (arrangement) was promptly carried out by Alaster, son of
Colla. He sent four score and ten of the veteran soldiers who had
often been tested in great dangers in many places ; and there came
in their stead three hundred foot of the men of the Bog of Gight,
Strathbogey, and the Braes, 1 who were not accustomed to skirmish-
ing, hard conflict, or the loud, harsh noise of battle. Although that
was a bad exchange for Alaster it was good for his men, for they were
never in any battle or skirmish from which they came safer — it
seemed to them that the cavalry of the Gordons had no duty to
perform but to defend the foot from every danger !
"Alaster drew up his men in a garden which they had come to,
and he found that there remained with him of his own men but two
score and ten of his gentlemen. He put five and twenty of these
in the first rank, and five and twenty of them in the rear rank, and
drew up his three hundred foot of the Gordons in their midst and
marched before them. The men who opposed him were the
regiment of the laird of Lawers, well-trained men, and the gentlemen
of Lewis along with them. The clamour of the fight began as is
usual in every field of battle, which the foot who were behind Alaster
son of Colla, could not well endure, for some of them would not hear
the sough of an arrow or the whistling of a ball without ducking
their heads or starting aside. Alaster's defence was to go backwards,
his TetracJiordon, which name, he says, the public could not under-
stand.
" Cries the stall-reader, 'Bless us ! what a word on
A title-page is this ! ' and some in file
Stand spelling false while one might walk to Mile-
End Green. Why it is harder, sirs, than Gordon,
Colkitlo or Macdonncl or Galasp ! "
" Colkitto" is for Colla Ciotach, "left-handed Coll or Colla," and
" Galasp " is Giolla-easpuig, now Gillespie. Alaster Mac Donald was killed
at the battle of Cnoc na ndos by the renegade Murough O'Brien in 1647.
1 " Do mhuinntir bhug na gaoithe, agus srathabhalgaidh agus bhraighe
an mhachuire."
570 LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
beckoning to his party with his hand to be of good courage and
march on quickly while his gentlemen were entirely engaged in
keeping their companies in order, but they failed to do it ; and I
knew men who killed some of the Gordons' foot in order to prevent
them from living. And when the enemy perceived this they pre-
pared to attack them and charge. Alaster ordered his men then to
gain the garden which they had forsaken before, but they were
attacked with pikes and arrows and many of them were slain on
every side of the garden before the party got into it. Alaster's sword
broke, and he got another sword into his hand, and he did not him-
self remember who gave it to him, but some persons supposed it was
his brother-in-law, Mac Caidh [Davidson] of Ardnacross, who gave
him his own sword. Davidson [himself], Feardorcha Mackay, and
other good gentlemen fell at that time at the entrance of the garden
who were waiting to have Alaster in before them."
Mac Vurich goes on to describe what happened to one of
Alaster's gentlemen, Ranald Mac Ceanain of Mull, who
found himself assailed by numbers of the enemy on the
outside of this garden.
" He turned his face to his enemy, his sword was round his neck, his
shield on his left arm, and a hand-gun in his right hand. He pointed
the gun at them, and a party of pikemen who were after him halted.
There happened to be a narrow passage before them, and on that
account there was not one of his own party that had been after him
but went before him. There was a great slaughter made of the
Gordons' foot by the bowmen. 1 It happened at that moment that a
bowman was running past Ranald, and he shooting at the Gordons.
The bowman looked over his shoulder and saw the halt to which
Ranald had brought the pikemen, and he turned his hand from the
man that was before him, and aimed his arrow at Ranald, which
struck him on the cheek, and he sent a handbreadth of it through
the other cheek. Then Ranald fired the shot, but not at the bow-
man. He threw the gun away and put the hand to his sword, whilst
his shield-arm was stretched far out from him in front, to defend
himself against the pikes. He made an effort to get the sword, but
it would not draw, for the belt turned round, and the sword did not
1 " Do bhi marbhadh tiugh ag lucht boghadh ga dhenamh ar na coisi-
dhibh Gordonac[ha]." Readers of the " Legend of Montrose " will recollect
the surprise and scorn with which Major Dugald Dalgetty learns that
some of the Highlanders carried bows, but here we see the execution they
wrought even in the hands of the Covenanters."
SEVENTEENTH CENTURY PROSE 571
come out. He tried it the second time by laying the shield-hand
under his [other] armpit against the scabbard of the sword, and he
drew it out, but five pikes were driven into him between the breast
and chin on his thus exposing (?) himself. However, not one of the
wounds they gave him was an inch deep. He was for a while at this
work, cutting at the pikes, and at all that were stuck in the boss of
the shield. He set his back against the garden to defend himself,
and was with difficulty working his way towards the door. The
pikemen were getting daunted by all that were being cut, except one
man who was striking at him desperately and fiercely. That man
thought that he would keep his pike from being cut, and that his
opponent would fall by him. Ranald was listening all the time to
Alaster (inside the wall) rating the Gordons for the bad efforts they
were making to relieve himself from the position where he was, and
he was all the time step by step making for the door of the garden.
At last when he thought that he was near the door he gave a high
ready spring away from the pikeman, turning his back to him and
his face to the door, stooping his head. The pikeman followed him
and stooped his own head under the door, but Alaster was watching
them and he gave the pikeman a blow, so that though he turned
quickly to get back, his head struck against Ranald's thigh, from the
blow Alaster gave him, and his body falls in the doorway and his
head in the garden, and when Ranald straightened his back and
looked behind him to the door, it was thus he beheld his adversary.
The arrow that was stuck in Ranald was cut, and it was taken out of
him, and he got it drawn away, and he found the use of his tongue all
right, and power of speech — a thing he never thought to get again."
This book, which is in pure Irish, was meant to be read not
only by the Highland Gaels, but by Irishmen as well, and indeed
the Black Book of Clanranald was picked up on a second-hand
bookstall in Dublin.
There were several other prose writers during the seventeenth
century, whose books, unlike those of Keating, Mac Firbis,
O'Cleiy, and others we have mentioned, had the good fortune
to be printed, but their works are mostly religious. Florence
Conry published in 1626 at Louvain a book called " the Mirror
of the Pious" 1 ; Hugh Mac Cathmhaoil, Archbishop of Armagh,
published in 161 8, also at Louvain, a book called "the Mirror
of the Sacrament of Penance " 2 ; Theobald Stapleton published
1 "Sgathan an chrabhaidh." 2 "Sgathan Sacrameinte na h-Aithrighe."
572 LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
at Brussels in 1639, a " Hook of Christian Doctrine," one
side Latin and the other Irish ; Anthony Gernon published at
Louvain in 1645, a book called "The Paradise of the Soul" J ;
Richard Mac Gilla Cody printed in 1667, a book on Miracles in
Irish and English ; Father Francis O'Mulloy published a long
book called "The Lamp of the Faithful" 2 in Irish at Louvain
in 1676, and in the following year his rare and valuable Irish
Grammar in Latin and Irish, one half of which is dedicated to
the subject of prosody, and is the fullest, most competent, and
most interesting account which we have of the Irish classical
metres as practised in the later schools, by one who was fully
acquainted both with them and their methods.
Several minor romantic stories, mostly fabulous creations un-
connected with Irish history, seem to have been written during
this century, and many more were translated from French,
Spanish, Latin, and possibly English. 3 Of the more important
works of Michael O'Clery, we shall speak in the next chapter.
1 a Parrthas an Anma." 2 " Lochran na gcreidhmheach."
3 In the MS. marked H. 2. 7. in Trinity College there is a story of Sir
Guy, Earl of Warwick and Bocigam [Buckingham], and p. 348 of the
same MS. another about Bibus, son of Sir Guy of Hamtuir. These must
have been taken from English sources. Of the same nature, but of
different dates, are Irish redactions of Marco Polo's travels, the Adventures
of Hercules, the Quest of the Holy Grail, Maundeville's Travels, the Adven-
tures of the Bald Dog, Teglach an bhuird Chruinn, i.e., the Household of the
Round Table, the Chanson de geste of Fierabras, Barlaam and Josaphat,
the History of Octavian, Orlando and Melora, Meralino Maligno, Richard
and Lisarda, the Story of the Theban War, Turpin's Chronicle, the
Triumphs of Charlemagne, the History of King Arthur, the Adventures of
Menalippa and Alchimenes, and probably many others.
CHAPTER XLI
THE IRISH ANNALS
We have already at the beginning of this book had occasion
to discuss the reliability of the Irish annals, 1 and have seen
that from the fifth century onward they record with great
accuracy the few events for which we happen to have external
evidence, drawn either from astronomical discovery or from the
works of foreign authors. We shall here enumerate the most
important of these works, for though the documents from
which they are taken were evidently of great antiquity, yet
they themselves are only comparatively modern compilations
mostly made from the now lost sources of the ancient vellum
chronicles which the early Christian monks kept in their
religious houses, probably from the very first introduction of
Christianity and the use of Roman letters.
The greatest — though almost the youngest — of them all is
the much-renowned " Annals of the Four Masters." This
mighty work is chiefly due to the herculean labours of the
learned Franciscan Brother, Michael O'Clery, a native of
Donegal, born about the year 1580, who was himself descended
from a long line of scholars. 2 He and another scion of
x Sec above pp. 38-43.
2 For an account of how these O'Cleiys came to Donegal see the
interesting preface to Father Murphy's edition of the ''Life of Red Hugh
( O'Donnell."
573
574 LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
Donegal, Aedh Mac an Bhaird, then guardian of St. Anthony's
in Louvain, contemplated the compilation and publication of
a great collection of the lives of the Irish saints.
In furtherance of this idea Michael O'Clery, with the leave
and approbation of his superiors, set out from Louvain, and,
coming to Ireland, travelled through the whole length and
breadth of it, from abbey to abbey and priory to priory. Up
and down, high and low, he hunted for the ancient vellum
books and time-stained manuscripts whose safety was even then
threatened by the ever-thickening political shocks and spasms
of that most destructive age. These, whenever he found, he
copied in an accurate and beautiful handwriting, and trans-
mitted safely to Louvain to his friend Mac an Bhaird, or
"Ward " as the name is now in English. Ward unfortunately
died before he could make use of the material thus collected by
O'Clery, but it was taken up by another great Franciscan,
Father John Colgan, who utilised the work of his friend
O'Clery by producing, in 1645, the two enormous Latin
quartos, to which we have already frequently alluded, the
first called the " Trias Thaumaturga," containing the lives
of Saints Patrick, Brigit, and Columcille ; the second con-
taining all the lives which could be found of all the Irish
saints whose festivals fell between the first of January and the
last of March. Several of the works thus collected by O'Clery
and Colgan still happily survive. 1 On the break-up of the
1 Copies of the lives of the following saints are still preserved in the
Burgundian Library at Brussels, copied by Michael O'Clery, no doubt from
vellum MSS. preserved at that time in Ireland. The Life of Mochna of
Balla, the Life of St. Baithin (fragmentary), the Life of St. Donatus (frag-
mentary), the Life of St. Finchua of Bri Gabhan, the Life of St. Finnbharr
of Cork, the Life of St. Creunata the Virgin, the Life of St. Moling (see above
p. 210), the Life of St. Finian (see p. 196), the Life of St. Ailbhc, the Life
of St Abbanus, the Life of St. Carthach (p. 211), the Life of St. Fursa (see
above p. 198), the Life of St. Ruadhan (who cursed Tara, see p. 229), the
Life of St. Ceatlach [see p. 395), the Life of St. Maodhog or Mogue, the Life
of St. Colman, the Life of St. Senanus (see p. 213), the Miracles of St. Senanua
alter his death, the Life of St. Caimin (sec p. 214) in verse, the Life of St
THE IRISH ANNALS 575
Convent of Louvain, they were transferred to St. Isidore's, in
Rome, and in 1872 were restored to Ireland and are now in
the Convent of the Franciscans, on Merchant's Quay, Dublin,
a restoration which prompted the fine lines of the late poet
John Francis O'Donnell.
From Ireland of the four bright seas
In troublous days these treasures came,
Through clouds, through fires, through darknesses,
To Rome of immemorial name,
Rome of immeasurable fame :
The reddened hands of foes would rive
Each lovely growth of cloister — crypt —
Dim folio, yellow manuscript,
Where yet the glowing pigments live ;
But a clear voice cried from Louvain
" Give them to me for they are mine,"
And so they sped across the main
The saints their guard, the ship their shrine.
Before O'Clery ever entered the Franciscan Order he had
been by profession an historian or antiquary, and now in his
eager quest for ecclesiastical writings and the lives of saints,
his trained eye fell upon many other documents which he
could not neglect. These were the ancient books and secular
annals of the nation, and the historical poems of the ancient
Kevin in prose, another Life of St. Kevin in verse, a third and different
Life of St Kevin, the Life of St. Mochaomhog, the Life of St. Caillin, his
poems and prophecies, the Poems of St. Senanus, St. Brendan, St.
Columcille, and others, the Life of St. Brigid, the Life of St. Adamnan,
the Life of St. Berchan, the Life of St. Grellan, the Life of St. Molaise,
who banished St. Columcille (see above, p. 177), the Life of St. Lassara the
Virgin, the Life of St. Uanlus, the Life of St. Ciaran of Clonmacnois and
of St. Ciaran of Saighir, the Life of St. Declan, the Life of St. Benin, the
Life of St. Ailcran (see p. 197) the Life of St. Brendan. The lives of those
saints which I have printed in italics are preserved on vellum elsewhere.
Many more lives of saints doubtless exist. The father of the present
Mac Dermot, the Prince of Coolavin, who was a good and fluent Irish
speaker, had a voluminous Life of St. Atracta, or Athracht, and I believe of
other saints' lives, on vellum, but on inquiring for it recently at Coolavin, I
found it had been lent and lost. Many other old vellums have doubtless
shared its fate.
-,76 LITERARY ///STORY OF IRELAND
bards. He indulged himself to the full in this unique oppor-
tunity to become acquainted with so much valuable material,
and the results of his labours were two voluminous books, first
the u Reim Rioghraidhe," or Succession of Kings in Ireland,
which gives the name, succession, and genealogy of the Icings of
Ireland from the earliest times down to the death of Malachy
the Great in 1022, and which gives at the same time the
genealogies of the early saints of Ireland down to the eighth
century, and secondly the " Leabhar Gabhala," or Book of
Invasions, 1 which contains an ample account of the successive
colonisations of Ireland which were made by Partholan, the
Nemedians, and the Tuatha De Danann, down to the death of
Malachy, all drawn from ancient books — for the most part now
lost — digested and put together by the friar.
It was probably while engaged on this work that the great
scheme of compiling the annals of Ireland occurred to him.
He found a patron and protector in Fergal O'Gara, lord of
Moy Gara and Coolavin, and with the assistance of five or
six other antiquaries, he set about his task in the secluded
convent of Donegal, at that time governed by his own
brother, on the 22nd of January, 1632, and finished it on the
10th of August, 1636, having had, during all this time, his
expenses and the expenses of his fellow-labourers defrayed by
the patriotic lord of Moy Gara.
It was Father Colgan, at Louvain, who first gave this great
work the title under which it is now always spoken of, that is,
" The Annals of the Four Masters." Father Colgan in the
preface to his " Acta Sanctorum Hiberniae," 2 after recounting
1 There are several large fragments of other " Books of Invasions " in
the Book of Leinster and other old vellum MSS., but when the Book of
Invasions is now referred to, O'Clery's compilation is the one usually
meant. It contains (1) the invasion of Ceasair before the flood ; (2) tlie
invasion of Partholan after it ; (3) the invasion of Nemedh ; (4) the invasion
of the Firbolg ; (5) that of the Tuatha De Danann ; (6) that of the Milesians
and the history of the Milesian race down to the reign of Malachy Mor.
2 This great work was not the only one of the indefatigable Colgan. At
his death, which occurred at the convent of his order in Louvain in 1658,
THE IRISH ANNALS 57;
O'Clery's labours and his previous books goes on to give an
account of this last one also, and adds :
" As in the three works before mentioned so in this fourth one,
three [helpers of his] are eminently to be praised, namely, Farfassa
O'Mulchonry, Perigrine J O'Clery, and Peregrine O'Duigenan, men
of consummate learning in the antiquities of the country and of
approved faith. And to these was subsequently added the co-
operation of other distinguished antiquarians, as Maurice
O'Mulconry who for one month, and Conary O'Clery who for
many months, laboured in its promotion. But since those annals
which we shall very frequently have occasion to quote in this
volume and in the others following, have been collected and
compiled by the assistance and separate study of so many
authors, neither the desire of brevity would permit us always
to quote them individually, nor would justice permit us to attribute
the labour of many to one, hence it sometimes seemed best to call
them the Annals of Donegal, for in our convent of Donegal they
were commenced and concluded. But afterwards for other reasons,
chiefly for the sake of the compilers themselves who were four most
eminent masters in antiquarian lore, we have been led to call them
the Annals of the Four Masters. Yet we said just now that
more than four assisted in their preparation ; however, as their
meeting was irregular, and but two of them during a short time
laboured in the unimportant and later part of the work, while the
other four were engaged on the entire production, at least up to
the year 1267 (from which the first part and the most necessary
one for us is closed), we quote it under their name."
he left behind him the materials of three great unpublished works which
are described by Harris. The first was "De apostulatu Hibernorum inter
exteras gentes, cum indice alphabetico de exteris Sanctis," consisting of
852 pages of manuscript. The next was " De Sanctis in Anglia in
Britannia, Aremorica, in reliqua Gallia, in Belgio," and contained 1,068
pages. The last was " De Sanctis in Lotharingia et Burgundia, in Ger-
mania ad sinistrum et dextrum Rheni, in Italia," and contained 920 pages.
None of these with the exception of a page or two have found their way
back to the Franciscans' establishment in Dublin, nor are they — where
many of the books used by Colgan lie — in the Burgundian Library in
Brussels. It is to be feared that they have perished.
1 In Irish Cucoigcriche, which, meaning a "stranger," has been latinised
Peregrinus by Ward. I remember one of the l'Estrange family telling
me how one of the O'Cucoigrys had once come to her father and asked
him if he had any objection to his translating his name for the future into
l'Estrange, both names being identical in meaning !
20
;;S LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
Michael O'Clery writes in his dedication to Fergal O'Gara,
after explaining the scope of the work —
"I explained to you that I thought I could get the assistance of
the chroniclers for whom I had most esteem in writing a book of
annals in which these matters might be put on record, and that
should the writing of them be neglected at present they would not
again be bound to be put on record or commemorated even to
the end of the world. All the best and most copious books of annals
that I could find throughout all Ireland were collected by me —
though it was difficult for me to collect them into one place — to
write this book in your name and to your honour, for it was you
who gave the reward of their labour to the chroniclers by whom
it was written, and it was the friars of Donegal who supplied them
with food and attendance."
The book is also provided with a kind of testimonium from
the Franciscan fathers of the monastery where it was written,
stating who the compilers were, and how long they had
worked under their own eyes, and what old books they had
seen with them, etc. In addition to this, Michael O'Clery
carried it to the two historians of greatest eminence in the
south of Ireland, Flann Mac Egan, of Ballymacegan, in the
Co. Tipperary, and Conor mac Brody of the Co. Clare, and
obtained their written approbation and signature, as well as
those of the Primate of Ireland and some others, and thus
provided he launched his book upon the world.
It has been published, at least in part, three times ; first
down to the year 1171 — the year of the Norman Invasion —
by the Rev. Charles O'Conor, grandson of Charles O'Conor,
of Belanagare, Carolan's patron, with a Latin translation,
and secondly in English by Owen Connellan from the year
1171 to the end. But the third publication of it — that by
O'Donovan — was the greatest work that any modern Irish
scholar ever accomplished. In it the Irish text with accurate
English translation, and an enormous quantity of notes, topo-
graphical, genealogical, and historical, are given, and the whole
is contained in seven great quarto volumes— a work of which
THE IRISH ANNALS 579
any age or country might be proud. So long as Irish history
exists, the " Annals of the Four Masters " will be read in
O'Donovan's translation, and the name of O'Donovan be in-
separably connected with that of the O'Clerys.
As to the contents of these annals, suffice it to say that like
so many other compilations of the same kind, they begin with
the Deluge: they end in the year 161 6. They give, from
the old books, the reigns, deaths, genealogies, etc., not only of
the high-kings but also of the provincial kings, chiefs, and
heads of distinguished families, men of science and poets, with
their respective dates, going as near to them as they can go.
They record the deaths and successions of saints, abbots,
bishops, and ecclesiastical dignitaries. They tell of the founda-
tion and occasionally of the overthrow of countless churches,
castles, abbeys, convents, and religious institutions. They
give meagre details of battles and political changes, and not
unfrequently quote ancient verses in proof of facts, but none
prior to the second century. 1 Towards the end the dry sum-
mary of events become more garnished, and in parts elaborate
detail takes the place of meagre facts. There is no event of
Irish history from the birth of Christ to the beginning of the
seventeenth century that the first inquiry of the student will
not be, "What do the 'Four Masters' say about it? " for the
great value of the work consists in this, that we have here in
condensed form the pith and substance of the old books of
s It is noteworthy that no poem is quoted previous to the reign of
Tuathal Teachtmhar in the second century. After that onward we find
verses quoted at the year 226 on the Ferguses, a.d. 284 on the death
of Finn, a.d. 432 a poem by Flann on St. Patrick, at 448 another poem on
Patrick, at 458 a poem on the death of King Laoghaire, in 465 a poem
on the death of the son of Niall of the Nine Hostages, at 478 on the
Battle of Ocha, which gave for five hundred years their supremacy to
the House of Niall, and then more verses under the years 489, 493,
50T, 503, 504, 506, 507, and so on. The poet-saint Beg mac De [see p.
232] is frequently quoted, as is Cennfaeladh, [p. 412] hut the usual formula
used in introducing verses is "of which the poet said," or "of which the
rann was spoken," or " as this verse tells."
5 So LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
Ireland which were then in existence but which — as the Four
Masters foresaw — have long since perished. The facts and
dates of the Four Masters are not their own facts and dates.
From confused masses of very ancient matter, they, with
labour and much sifting, drew forth their dates and synchro-
nisms and harmonised their facts.
As if to emphasise the truth that they were only redacting
the Annals of Ireland from the most ancient sources at their
command, the Masters wrote in an ancient bardic dialect
full at once of such idioms and words as were unintelligible
even to the men of their own day unless they had received a
bardic training. In fact, they were learned men writing for
the learned, and this work was one of the last efforts of the
esprit de corps of the school-bred shanachy which always
prompted him to keep bardic and historical learning a close
monopoly amongst his own class. Keating was Michael
O'Clery's contemporary, but he wrote — and I consider him
the first Irish historian and trained scholar who did so — for
the masses not the classes, and he had his reward in the
thousands of copies of his popular History made and read
throughout all Ireland, while the copies made of the Annals
were quite few in comparison, and after the end of the
seventeenth century little read.
The valuable but meagre Annals of Tighearnach, published by
the Rev. Charles O'Conor with a rather inaccurate Latin trans-
lation, and now in process of publication by Dr. Whitley
Stokes, were compiled in the eleventh century. Clonmacnois
of which Tighearnach was abbot was founded in 544, and the
Annals had probably for their basis, as M. d'Arbois de
Jubainville remarks, some book in which from the very
foundation of the monastery the monks briefly noted remark-
able events from year to year. Tighearnach declares that all
Irish history prior to the founding of Emania is uncertain. 1
Tighearnach himself died in 1088.
1 See above, p. 42.
THE IRISH ANNALS 581
Another valuable book of Annals is the Chronicon Scotorum,
of uncertain origin, edited for the Master of the Rolls in one
volume by the late Mr. Hennessy, from a manuscript in the
handwriting of the celebrated Duald Mac Firbis. It begins
briefly with the legended Fenius Farsa, who is said to have
composed the Gaelic language, "out of seventy- two languages."
It then jumps to the year 353 a.d., merely remarking "I pass
to another time and he who is will bless it, in this year 353
Patrick was born." At the year 432 we meet the curious
record, "a morte Concculaind [Cuchulain] herois usque ad hunc
annum 431, a morte Concupair [Conor] mic Nessa 412
anni sunt." Columcille's prayer at the battle of Cul Dremhne
is given under the year 561, and consists of three poetic ranns.
Cennfaeladh is another poet frequently quoted, and as in the
" Four Masters," we meet with numerous scraps of poems
given as authorities. On the murder of Bran Dubh, king of
Leinster, which took place in 605, two verses are quoted
curiously attributed to " an old woman of Leinster," " de quo
anus Laighen locutus rand."
The Annals of Ulster cover the period from the year 431
to 1540. Three large volumes of these have been published
for the Master of the Rolls, the first by Mr. Hennessy, the
second and third by Dr. Mac Carthy. Some verses, but not
many, are quoted as authorities in these annals also, from the
beginning of the sixth century onward.
The Annals of Loch Ce begin at 1014 and end in 1590,
though they contain a few later entries. They also are edited
for the Master of the Rolls in two volumes by Mr. Hennessy.
They contain scarcely more than half a dozen poetic quo-
tations.
The Annals of 'Boyle contained in a thirteenth-century
manuscript, begin with the Creation and are continued down
to 1253. The fragmentary Annals of Boyle contain the period
from 1224 to 1562.
The Annals of Innisfallen were compiled about the year
582 LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
1215, but according to O'Curry were commenced at least two
centuries before that period.
The Annals of Clonmacnois were a valuable compilation con-
tinued down to the year 1408. The original of these annals
is lost, but an English translation of them made by one
Connla Mac Echagan, or Mageoghegan, of West Meath, for
his friend and kinsman Torlough Mac Cochlan, lord of Delvin,
in 1627, still exists, and was recently edited by the late Father
Denis Murphy, S.J.
These form the principal books of the annals of Ireland,
and though of completely different and independent origin
they agree marvellously with each other in matters of fact,
and contain the materials for a complete, though not an
exhaustive, history of Ireland as derived from internal sources.
It is very much to be regretted that no Irish writer before
Keating ever attempted, with these and the many lost books of
annals before him, to throw their contents into a regular and
continuous history. But this was never done, and the com-
paratively dry chronicles remain still the sources from which
must be drawn the hard facts of the nation's past, with the
exception of those brief periods which have engaged the pens
of particular writers, such as the history of the wars of
Thomond, compiled about 1459 by Rory Mac Craith, or
the Life of Red Hugh written a century and a half later by
Lu2;haidh O'Clery, and the many historical sagas and "lives"
dealing with particular periods, which are really history
romanticised.
CHAPTER XLII
THE BREHON LAWS
Although treatises on law are not literature in the true
sense of the word, yet those of Ireland are too numerous and
valuable not to claim at least some short notice. When it
was determined by the Government, in 1852, to appoint a
Royal Commission to publish the Ancient Laws and Institu-
tions of Ireland, those great native scholars O'Donovan and
O'Curry (the only men who had arisen since the death of
Mac Firbis who were competent to undertake the task) set
about transcribing such volumes of the Irish law code as had
escaped the vicissitudes of time, and before they died — which
they did, unhappily, not long after they had begun this work —
O'Donovan had transcribed 2,491 pages of text, of which he
had accomplished a preliminary translation in twelve manu-
script volumes, while his fellow labourer O'Curry had tran-
scribed 2,906 pages more, and had accomplished a tentative
translation of them which filled thirteen volumes. Four
large volumes of these laws have been already published, and
two more have been these very many years in preparation, but
have not as yet seen the light.
The first two of the published volumes J contain the
1 Published in 1865 and 1869.
583
5S4 LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
Seanchus Mor [Shanavus more], which includes a preface
to the text, in which we are told how and where it was put
together and purified, and the law of Athgabhail or Distress.
The second volume contains the law of hostage-sureties, of
fosterage, of Saer-stoclc tenure and Daer-stoclc tenure, and the
law of social connexions. The third volume contains the
so-called Book of Acaill, which is chiefly concerned with the
law relating to torts and injuries. It professes to be a compila-
tion of the dicta and opinions of King Cormac mac Art, who
lived in the third century, and of Cennfaeladh, who lived in
the seventh. 1 The fourth volume of the Brehon law consists
of isolated law-tracts such as that on " Taking possession,"
that containing judgments on co-tenancy, right of water,
divisions of land, and the celebrated Crith Gabhlach which
treats of social ranks and organisation.
The text itself of the Seanchus Mor, which is comprised in
the first two published volumes, is comparatively brief, but
what swells it to such a size is the great amount of commen-
tary in small print written upon the brief text, and the great
amount of additional annotations upon this commentary itself.
Whatever may have been the date of the original laws, the
bulk of the text is much later, for it consists of the com-
mentaries added by repeated generations of early Irish lawyers
piled up as it were one upon the other.
Most of the Brehon law tracts derive their titles not from
individuals who promulgated them, but either from the subjects
treated of or else from some particular locality connected with
the composition of the work. They are essentially digests
rather than codes, compilations, in fact, of learned lawyers.
The essential idea of modern law is entirely absent from them,
if by law is understood a command given by some one pos-
sessing authority to do or to forbear doing, under pains and
penalties. There appears to be, in fact, no sanction laid down
in the Brehon law against those who violated its maxims, nor
1 For him see above p. 412.
THE BREHON LA WS 585
did the State provide any such. This was in truth the great
inherent weakness of Irish jurisprudence, and it was one
inseparable from a tribal organisation, which lacked the con-
trolling hand of a strong central government, and in which
the idea of the State as distinguished from the tribe had
scarcely emerged. If a litigant chose to disregard the bre-
hon's ruling there was no machinery of the law set in motion to
force him to accept it. The only executive authority in
ancient Ireland which lay behind the decision of the judge
was the traditional obedience and good sense of the people,
and it does not appear that, with the full force of public
opinion behind them, the brehons had any trouble in getting
their decisions accepted by the common people. Not that this
was any part of their duty. On the contrary, their business
was over so soon as they had pronounced their decision, and
given judgment between the contending parties. If one of
these parties refused to abide by this decision, it was no affair of
the brehon's, it was the concern of the public, and the public
appear to have seen to it that the brehon's decision was always
carried out. This seems to have been indeed the very essence of
democratic government with no executive authority behind it
but the will of the people, and it appears to have trained a
law-abiding and intelligent public, for the Elizabethan states-
man, Sir John Davies, confesses frankly in his admirable
essay on the true causes why Ireland was never subdued, that
" there is no nation or people under the sunne that doth love
equall and indifferent justice better than the Irish ; or will rest
better satisfied with the execution thereof although it be against
themselves, so that they may have the protection atid benefit
of the law, when uppon just cause they do desire it."
The Irish appear to have had professional advocates, a court
of appeal, and regular methods of procedure for carrying the
case before it, and if a brehon could be shown to have
delivered a false or unjust judgment he himself was liable to
damages. The brehonship was not elective ; it seems indeed
-^6 LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
in later times to have been almost hereditary, but the brehon
had to pass through a long and tedious course before he was
permitted to practise ; he was obliged to be "qualified in every
department of legal science," says the text ; and the Brehon
law was remarkable for its copiousness, furnishing, as Sir
Samuel Ferguson remarks, " a striking example of the length
to which moral and metaphysical refinements may be carried
under rude social conditions." As a makeweight against the
privileges which are always the concomitant of riches, the
penalties for misdeeds and omissions of all kinds were carefully
graduated in the interests of the poor, and crime or breach of
contract might reduce a man from the highest to the lowest
grade.
There is little intimation in the laws as to their own origin.
Like the Common Law of England, to which they bear a
certain resemblance, they appear to have been in great part
handed down from time immemorial, probably without under-
going any substantial change. It is curious to observe how
some of the typical test-cases carry us back as far as the second
century. Thus the very first paragraph in the Law of Dis-
tress — one of the most important institutions among the Irish,
for Distress was the procedure by which most civil claims
were made good — runs thus : z
"Three white cows were taken by Asalfrom Mogh, son of Nuada,
by an immediate seizure. And they lay down a night at Lerta on
the Boyne. They escaped from him and they left their calves, and
their white milk flowed upon the ground. He went in pursuit of
them, and seized six milch cows at the house at daybreak. Pledges
were given for them afterwards by Cairpre Gnathchoir for the
seizure, for the distress, for the acknowledgment, for triple acknow-
ledgment, for acknowledgment by one chief, for double acknowledg-
ment."
But these things are supposed to have happened in the days
1 This passage was already so old in the time of Cormac mac Cuilen-
nain or Culinan, who died in 907, that it required a gloss, for Cormac in
his Glossary refers to the gloss on the passage.
THE BREHON LA WS 587
of Conn of the Hundred Battles, yet the case remained a
leading one till the sixteenth century.
The Brehon laws probably embody a large share of primi-
tive Aryan custom. Thus it is curious to meet the Indian
practice of sitting "dharna" or fasting on a debtor in full
force amongst the Irish as one of the legal forms by which
a creditor should proceed to recover his debt. 1 " Notice,"
says the text of the Irish law,
"precedes every distress in the case of inferior grades, except it
be by persons of distinction or upon persons of distinction ; fasting
precedes distress in their case. He who does not give a pledge to
fasting is an evader of all. He who disregards all things shall not be
paid by God or man. He who refuses to cede what should be
accorded to fasting, the judgment upon him according to the Feini
[brehon] is that he pay double the thing for which he was fasted
upon, [but] he who fasts notwithstanding the offer of what should be
accorded to him, forfeits his legal right to anything according to
the decision of the Feini."
There were, according to Irish history, four periods at which
special laws were enacted by legislative authority, first during
the reign of Cormac mac Art in the third century, secondly
when St. Patrick came, thirdly by Cormac mac Culinan the
king-bishop of Cashel, who died in 903, and lastly by Brian
Boru about a century later. But the great mass of the Brehon
Code appears to have been traditionary, or to have grown with
the slow growth of custom. None of the Brehon Law books
so far as they have as yet been given to the public, shows any
attempt to grapple with the nature of law in the abstract, or to
deal with the general fundamental principles which underlie the
conception of jurisprudence. A great number of the cases,
too, which are raised for discussion in the law-books, appear to
be rather possible than real, rather problematical cases proposed
by a teacher to his students to be argued upon according to
general principles, than as actual serious subjects for legal dis-
1 See p. 229 for a ease of fasting on a person.
588 LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
cussion. This is particularly the case with a great part of the
Book of Acaill.
The part of the Brehon Law called the Seanchus Mor was
redacted in the year 438, according to the Four Masters, " the
age of Christ 438, the tenth year of Laeghaire, the Seanchus
and Feineachus of Ireland were purified and written." Here
is how the book itself treats of its own origin :
" The Seanchus of the men of Erin — what has preserved it ? The
joint memory of two seniors ; the tradition from one ear to another ;
the composition of poets ; the addition from the law of the letter ;
strength from the law of nature ; for these are the three rocks by
which the judgments of the world are supported."
The commentary says that the Seanchus was preserved by
Ross, a doctor of the Bearla Feini or Legal dialect, by Dubh-
thach [Duffach], a doctor of literature, and by Fergus, a
doctor of poetry.
" Whoever the poet was that connected it by a thread of poetry
before Patrick, it lived until it was exhibited to Patrick. The pre-
serving shrine is the poetry, and the Seanchus is what is preserved
therein." x
Dubhthach exhibited to Patrick —
"The judgments and all the poetry of Erin, and every law which
prevailed among the men of Erin through the law of nature and the
law of the seers, and in the judgments of the island of Erin and in
the poets. . . . The judgments of true nature,' it tells us, 'which
the Holy Ghost had spoken through the mouths of the brehons and
just poets of the men of Erin from the first occupation of this
island down to the reception of the faith, were all exhibited by
Dubhthach to Patrick. What did not clash with the Word of God
in the written law and in the New Testament and with the consensus
of the believers, was confirmed in the laws of the brehons by Patrick
and by the ecclesiastics and the chieftains of Erin ; for the law of
nature had been quite right, except the faith and its obligations, and
the harmony of the church and the people— and this is the Seanchus
Mor."
1 Vol. i. p. 31.
THE B RE HON LA WS 589
M. d'Arbois de Jubainville, 1 however, has shown that the
Seanchus Mor is really made up of treatises belonging to
different periods, of which that upon Immediate Seizure is the
oldest. While some of the other treatises must be of much
later date, this tract, he has proved, cannot in its present form
be later than the close of the sixth century, because it contains
no trace of the right of succession accorded to women by an
Irish council of about the year 600, while at the same time it
cannot be anterior to the introduction of Christianity, because
it contains mention of altar furniture amongst things seizable,
and contains two Latin words, altoir (altar) and as (cinsus=
census). 2 This, however, does not wholly discredit the tradition
that St. Patrick had a hand in the final redaction of at least a
part of the Seanchus Mor, for altars were certainly known in
Ireland before Patrick, and the insertion of the clause about
altar furniture may even have been due to the apostle himself.
How far certain parts of the law may have reached back into
antiquity and become stereotyped by custom before they became
stereotyped by writing there is no means of saying. But, as
M. d'Arbois de Jubainville has pointed out, the Seanchus Mor
is closely related to the Cycle of Conor and Cuchulain, as the
various allusions to King Conor, and to his arch-brehon Sencha,
and to Morann the Judge, and to Ailill, and to the custom of
the Heroes' Bit, show, while the cycle of Finn and Ossian is
passed over.
There are many allusions to the Seanchus Mor in Cormac's
Glossary, always referring to the glossed text, which must have
been in existence before the year 900.3 Again the text of the
Seanchus Mor relies upon judgments delivered by ancient brehons
1 " Cours de Litterature celtique," tome vii. " Etudes surle droit Celtique,"
II. partie, chap. 2.
2 Modern cios, "rent." " Census," according to M d'Arbois de Jubainville,
was pronounced "kesus," and had a variant cinsus in Low Latin pronounced
"cisus," whence Irish cis and German Zins.
3 See under the words Athgabail, Flaith, Ferb, Ness, as Jubainville has
pointed out.
590 LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
such as Sencha, in the time of King Conor mac Nessa, but there
is no allusion in its text to books or treatises. The gloss, on the
other hand, is full of such allusions, and it is evident that in
early times the names of the Irish Law Books were legion.
Fourteen different books of civil law are alluded to by name in
the glosses on the Seanchus, and Cormac in his Glossary gives
quotations from five such books. It is remarkable that only-
one of the five quoted by Cormac is among the fourteen men-
tioned in the glosses on the Seanchus Mor, and this alone goes
to show the number of books upon law which were in use
amongst the ancient Irish, most of which have long since
perished.
CHAPTER XLIII
THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY
The Irish of the eighteenth century being almost wholly
deprived by law of all possibilities of bettering their condition,
and having the necessary means of education rigidly denied
them, turned for solace to poetry, and in it they vented their
wrongs and bitter grief. I have met nothing more painful
in literature than the constant, the almost unvarying cry of
agony sent out by every one of the Irish writers during the
latter half of the seventeenth and the first half of the eighteenth
century.
There seems to have been very great literary activity
amongst the natives in almost every county of Ireland during
this period, and the poets it produced were countless ; during
this period, too, the Irish appear to have translated many
religious books from French and Latin into Irish. In one way
the work of the eighteenth century is of even more value to us
than that of any earlier age, because it gives us the thoughts
and feelings of men who, being less removed from ourselves
in point of time, have probably more fully transmitted their
own nature to their descendants — the Irish of the present day.
Unhappily, however, though many volumes of the work of the
eighteenth century have survived, yet countless others have
591
592 LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
been lost during the last fifty years, and the only body in
Ireland competent to secure Irish manuscripts by purchase,
takes unfortunately not the slightest heed of any modern Irish
writings, which are daily perishing in numbers.
Of the poets of what I have called the New School,
towards the end of the seventeenth century, the most noted
was certainly David O'Bruadar, or Broder, whose extant
poems would fill a volume. They are in the most various
forms of the new metres, but their vocabulary and word-forms
are rather those of the more ancient bards, which renders his
poetry by no means easy of translation. He appears to have
been the bard par excellence of the Williamite wars, and bitter
is his cry of woe after the Boyne and Aughrim.
"One single foot of land there is not left to us, even as alms
from the State ; no, not what one may make his bed upon, but the
State will accord us the grace — strange ! of letting us go safe to
Spain to seek adventures !
" They [the English] will be in our places, thick-hipped, mocking,
after beating us from the flower of our towns, full of pewter, brass,
plates, packages — English-speaking, shaven, cosy, tasteful. 1
" There will be a beaver cape on each of their hags, and a silk
gown from crown to foot ; bands of churls will have our fortresses,
full of Archys (?), cheeses and pottage.
" These are the people — though it is painful to relate it — who are
living in our white moats, 'Goody Hook' and 'Mother Hammer,'
' Robin,' ' Saul,' and < Father Salome ' !
" The men of the breeches a-selling the salt, 2 ' Gammer,' ' Ruth,'
and ' Goodman Cabbage,' ' Mistress Capon,' ' Kate and Anna,'
' Russell Rank,' and ' Master Gadder ' !
" [They are now] where Deirdre, that fair bright scion used to
roam, where Emer 3 and the Liath Macha 4 used to be, where Eevil 5
1 " Beidhid fein 'n ar n-ait go masach magaidh
D'eis ar saruighthe, i mblath ar mbailteadh,
Go peatrach, prasach, platach, pacach,
Go bearla, bearrtha, badhach (?) blasta."
2 I.e., Refusing hospitality except for payment. 3 Cuchulain's wife.
4 Cuchulain's grey steed. See p. 351, note.
s Aoibhioll [Eevil] of the Grey Crag, a queen of the Munster fairies,
See p. 438, note, and p. 440, note.
THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 593
used to be beside the Crag, and the elegant ladies of the Tuatha
De Danann.
" Where the poet-schools, the bards, and the damsels were, with
sporting, dance, wine and feasts, with pastime of kings and active
champions."
For a moment, after the accession of James II. and during
the viceroyalty of Tyrconnel, courage and hope returned to
the natives. Their poetry, wherever preserved, is a veritable
mirror wherein to read their transitions of feeling.
" Thanks be to God, this sod of misery
Is changed as though by a blow of wizardry ;
James can pass to Mass in livery,
With priests in white and knights and chivalry." '
"Where goes John [i.e., John Bull], he has no red coat on him
[now], and no 'who goes there' beside the gate, seeking a way
[to enrich himself], contentiously, in the teeth of law, putting me
under rent in the night of misfortune. 2
" Where goes Ralph and his cursed bodyguard, devilish prentices,
the rulers of the city, who tore down on every side the blessed
chapels, banishing and plundering the clergy of God.
" They do not venture [now] to say to us, ' You Popish rogue ; '
but our watchword is, ' Cromwellian Dog.'
" The cheese-eating clowns are sorrowful, returning every greasy
lout of them to their trades, without gun, or sword, or arm exercise ;
their strength is gone, their hearts are beating. . . .
"After transplanting us, and every conceivable treachery, after
transporting us over-sea to the country of Jamaica, after all whom
they scattered to France and Spain.
" All who did not submit to their demands, how they placed their
heads and hearts on stakes ! and all of our race who were valiant
in spirit, how they put them to death, foully, disgustingly !
" After all belonging to our church that the Plot hanged, and after
the hundreds that have died in fetters from it, and all whom they
1 This is the metre of the poem, a very common one among the New
School. The poet is one Diarmuid Mac Carthy. I forget whence I
transcribed his poem.
2 " Ca ngabhann Scon ? ni'l cota dearg air,
Na " who goes there " re taebh an gheata 'ge,
Ag iarraidh slighe anaghaidh dlighe go spairneach,
Dom' chur fa Chios i n-oidhche an acarainn."
2 P
594 LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
had deep down in the jail of every town, and all who were bound in
the tower of London.
"After all their disregard for right, full of might and injustice,
without a word [for us] in the law, who would not even write your
name, but ever said of us 'Teigs and Diarmuids,' disrespectfully.
"There is many a Diarmuid noiv, both sensible and powerful ! and
many a Teig, too, both merry and jubilant ! in the county of Eber,
who is stfong on the battlefield — the foreigners all everlastingly
hated that name. . . .
" Friends of my heart, after all the thousands we lost, I cry
impetuously to God in the heavens, giving thanks every day without
forgetting, that it is in the time of this king * we have lived. . . .
" Having the fear of God, be ye full of almsgiving and friendliness,
and forgetting nothing do ye according to the commandments ;
shun ye drunkenness and oaths and cursing, and do not say till
death ' God damn ' from your mouths," etc.
;
But Aughrim and the Boyne put an end to the dream that
the Irish would ever again bear sway in their own land, and
the carefully-devised Penal laws proceeded to crush all remain
ing independence of spirit out of them, and to grind away thei
very life-blood. Once more their poets fell back into lamenta-
tions over the past and impotent prophecies of the return of
the Stuarts and the resurrection of Erin. Despite their senti-
mental affection for the paltry Stuarts, who ever used them as
their tools, many of the poets were perfectly clear-sighted about
them.
" It is the coming of King James that took Ireland from us,
With his one shoe English and his one shoe Irish.
He would neither strike a blow nor would he come to terms,
And that has left, so long as they shall exist, misfortune upon the Gaels." 2
" Our case," says another poet, " is like the plague of Egypt ; who-
ever chooses to break your lease, breaks it, and there is no good for
you to go arguing your right."
1 James II.
2 "'Sc tigheacht Righ Seamas do bhain dinn Eire
Le n-a leath-bhroig gallda \s a leath-bhfoig gaedhealach.
Ni thiubhradh se buille uaidh na reidhteaeht
'S d'lag sin, fhad's mairid, an donas ar Ghaedhealaibh."
THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 595
" King's rent, country's rent, clergy's rent, rent for your nose, rent
for your back, rent for warming yourself, head-money at the head
of every festival, hearth money, and money for readying roads ! x
" His goods are not taken from any one all at once, at one time ;
he must pay for being allowed to keep them first, and be forced to
sell them afterwards.
" If you happen to be alive, then you are the ' Irish rogue,' if you
happen to be dead, then there's no more about you, except that your
soul is [of course] in the fetters of pain, like the bird-flock that is
among the clouds.
" It is the King of Kings — and King James, the Pope, the friars,
and the fasting, and King Louis, who put Christendom under a
settlement, that sent this ban upon the children of Milesius."
Every poet describes the condition of the native Irish in
almost the same strains.
" Their warriors are no better off than their clergy ; they are
being cut down and plundered by them [the English] every day.
See all that are without a bed except the furze of the mountains,
the bent of the curragh, and the bog-myrtle beneath their bodies.
" Under frost, under snow, under rain, under blasts of wind, without
a morsel to eat but watercress, green grass, sorrel of the mountain,
or clover of the hills. Och ! rny pity to see their nobles forsaken !
"Their estates were estimated for, and are now in the hands of
robbers, their towns are under the control of English-speaking
bastards, their title deeds which were firm for a while, are now in
the hands of foreigners, whose qualities are not mild.
" Their forts are under the sway of tradespeople ; none of their
fortresses is to be seen remaining for them, but black prisons and
the houses of the fetters, and some of their heads parted from their
tender bodies.
" And some of them in the clutch of famine so that they die, and
some of them hunted to Connacht of the slaughter, [shut in], under
the lock of the Shannon, not easy to open, and without provision to
feed their mouths there — their warm dwellings under the control
of the perjurers."
The feelings of the native Irish, smarting under the
1 " Cios righ, cios lire, eios cleire,
Cios srona, cios tona, cios teighte
Airgiod ceann i gceann gach fcile
Airgiod teallaigh as bealaigh do reightiughadh."
I forget whence I copied this, but such pieces are innumerable
596 LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
cowardice, selfishness, and incompetence of James II., were
but moderately excited by the rather feeble attempt of his
son to regain his father's kingdom by the sword. One or
two stray bards, however, saluted his undertaking with poems :
" Long in misery were we,
No man free from English gall,
Now our James is on the sea
We shall see revenge for all. 1
Flowering branch of royal blood,
Soon his bud shall burst to flame,
James our friend is on the flood,
Learned and good and first in fame.
Luther's louts, and Calvin's clan,
Every man who loved to lie,
Boar-hounds of the bloody fang
We shall see them hang on high.
But this and its fellows were only spasmodic rhapsodies.
The Irish kept their real enthusiasm for the gallant attempt
of Charles Edward, and the Jacobite poems of Ireland would,
if collected, fill a large-sized volume. 2 So popular did Jacobite
poetry become that it gave rise to a conventional form of its
own,3 which became almost stereotyped, and which seems to
have been adopted as a test subject in bardic contests, and by
all new aspirants to the title of poet. This form introduces
the poet as wandering in a wood or by the banks of a river,
1 " Fada sinn i ngalar buan
Faoi smacht cruaidh measg na nGall
O ta Seamas 6g ar cuan
Bhearfaid uatha diol d'a cheann," etc.
From a manuscript of my own.
3 Hardiman printed about fifteen Jacobite poems in the second volume
of his " Irish Minstrelsy," and O'Daly about twenty-five more in his " Irish
Jacobite Poetry," 2nd edition.
3 Or rather to the resurrection of an ancient theme long lost, for as Dr.
Sigerson has shown, one of the Monks of St. Gall had already treated it
in Latin nine hundred years before. See Constantine Nigra's " Reliquiae
Celtics, " and Dr, Sigerson's " Bards of the Gael and Gall," p, 413,
THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 59;
where he is astonished to perceive a beautiful lady approaching
him. He addresses her, and she answers. The charms of her
voice, mien, and bearing are portrayed by the poet. He in-
quires who and whence she is, and how comes she to be thus
wandering. She replies that she is Erin, who is flying from
the insults of foreign suitors and in search of her real mate.
Upon this theme the changes are rung in every conceivable
metre and with every conceivable variation, by the poets of the
eighteenth century. Some of the best of these allegorical
pieces are distinctly poetic, but they soon degenerated into
conventionalism, so much so that I verily believe they con-
tinued to be written even after the death of the last Stuart.
The possibility of a Jacobite rebellion gave rise to some fine war-
songs also, calling upon the Irish to break their slumbers, but
they were too exhausted and too thoroughly broken to stir,
even in the eventful '45.
One of the earliest writers of Jacobite poetry, and perhaps
the most voluminous man of letters of his day amongst the
native Irish, was John O'Neaghtan of the county Meath, who
was still alive in 1 7 1 5. One of his early poems was written
immediately after the battle of the Boyne, when the English
soldiery stripped him of everything he possessed in the world,
except one small Irish book, Between forty and fifty of his
pieces are enumerated by O'Reilly, and I have seen others in
a manuscript in private hands. 1 These included a poem in
imitation of those called " Ossianic," of 1296 lines, and a tale
written about 17 17 in imitation of the so-called Fenian tales,
an amusing allegoric story called the " Adventures of Edmund
O'Clery," and a curious but extravagant tale called the "Strong-
armed Wrestler." Hardiman had in his possession a closely-
written Irish treatise by O'Neaghtan of five hundred pages on
general geography, containing many interesting particulars
concerning Ireland, and a volume of Annals of Ireland from
1 Bought by my friend Mr. David Comyn gy,"
624 LITERARY JUS TORY OF IRELAND
a scries of letters in which he distinctly says that lie found the
common people either did not understand English at all or
understood it imperfectly. 1
More than two generations had passed away after Madden's
statement that nineteen-twentieths of the population knew
English, when we find a Scotchman, Daniel Dewar, in a book
entitled " Observations on the Character, Customs and Super-
stitions of the Irish," writing thus in 1812 : —
" The number of people who speak this language [Irish] is much
greater than is generally supposed. It is spoken throughout the
province of Connaught by all the lower orders, a great part of whom
scarcely understand any English, and some of those who do, under-
stand it only so as to conduct business. They are incapable of
receiving moral or religious instruction through its medium. The
Irish is spoken very generally through the other three provinces
except amongst the descendants of the Scotch in the north. It
cannot be supposed that calculations on this subject should be
perfectly accurate, but it has been concluded on good grounds that
there are about two millions of people in Ireland [out of about six
millions] who are incapable of understanding a continued discourse
in English."
" I have always found," says Dewar, with much shrewdness,
" that in places where gentlemen hostile to this tongue assured
me there was not a word of it spoken, in these very districts
I heard very little English." He gives an amusing account
of the various contradictory objections that he found at that
time ur2;ed against it.
" Some of the Anglo-Hibernians at that time (1808) strongly main-
tained that this dialect is so barbarous that it cannot answer the
purpose of instruction, others that it would awaken the enthusiasm
of the Wild Irish (as they call them) to make any attempt of this kind,
and consequently that it might prove dangerous to the Government,
and others, that they had no desire to be taught in Irish, and that it
would be useless to send teachers among them for this purpose."
1 " Das Englische wird vom gemeinen Volke entweder gar nicht oder
sehr unvulkommen eiicrnt " (" Briefe Aus Iiiand," Leipzig, J 785, p. 2 J 4).
IRISH AS A SPOKEN LANGUAGE 625
Dutton, in his statistical history of the county Clare, published
in 1808, says that almost all the gentlemen of that county spoke
Irish with the country people, but he adds, " scarcely one of
their sons is able to hold a conversation in this language. The
children of almost all those who cannot speak English are
proud of being spoken to in English and answering in the
same, even although you may question them in Irish. No Irish
is spoken in any of the schools, and the peasants are anxious to
send their children to them to learn English." This apparently
does not refer to the hedge schools of the natives, but to the
charter and other English schools. " I think the diversity
of language and not the diversity of religion," writes Grattan,
in 181 1, "constitutes a diversity of people. I should be very
sorry that the Irish language should be forgotten, but glad that
the English language should be generally understood." x This
seems to have been also the position taken up by his great rival
Flood, who, when dying, left some ^50,000 to Trinity College
for the cultivation of the Irish language. Trinity College,
however, never secured the money, and its so-called Irish
professorship, lately established, in the fifties, is only an
adjunct of its Divinity School, and paid and practically
controlled, not by the college, nor by people in the least interested
in the cultivation of Celtic literature, but by a society for
the conversion of Irish Papists through the medium of their
own language.
In 1825, tnat is eighty-seven years after Madden's statement
that nineteen-twentieths of the population knew English, the
Commissioners of Education in Ireland, in their first report laid
before Parliament, state " it has been estimated that the num-
ber of Irish who employ the ancient language of the country
exclusively is not less than 500,000, and that at least a million
more, although they have some understanding of English and
can employ it for the ordinary purposes of traffic, make use
1 Giattan's " Miscellaneous Works." p. 32 r, edition ol [822.
2R
626 LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
of their [own] tongue on all other occasions as the natural
vehicle of their thoughts."
Lappenberg, a German who travelled in Ireland, reckoned
that out of a population of seven millions of inhabitants in 1835,
four millions spoke Irish " als ihre Muttersprache."
In 1842 Mac Comber's "Christian Remembrancer," dis-
cussing the possibility of "converting " the Irish, says, " there
are about 3,000,000 of Irish who still speak the Irish language
and love it as their mother tongue," and " that part of the
Irish population which still speaks and understands little else
than Irish " is "nearly a third of the entire population of
Ireland."
A German, J. C. Kohl, who travelled extensively in Ireland
in 1843, shortly before the famine, says that in Clare the
" children would run by the side of the car crying, c Burnocks ■
halfpenny,' burnocks being an appellation applied to every
stranger, and ' halfpenny ' the only English that the little
rogues seemed to know." The neglect of the use of Irish in
the churches, which had even then set in, largely owing to the
teaching and wishes of O'Connell and his parliamentarians,
struck the German spectator as something astonishing, for
apparently he could not understand how an ancient nation
with whose fame all Europe had recently been filled owing
to the exertions of O'Connell, should be casting away its
national birthright. "The great city of Cork," he notes,
" which lies in a district where much Irish is still spoken,
contains only two churches where sermons are preached in
Irish. A short time ago the Irjsh prisoners in Cork gaol
petitioned the chaplain that he would preach his Sunday
sermon to them in Irish."
This acute foreign observer gives a very interesting account
of the state of the Irish language round Drogheda, a coast town
some twentv miles north of Dublin, which is worth quoting
1 " Burnocks " does not look like a real word. I have no idea what it
means or it is meant for.
IRISH AS A SPOKEN LANGUAGE 627
here since it accurately describes the condition of affairs over
the greater part of Leinster sixty years ago, but which is now
so absolutely extinct that few modern Irishmen could believe it
except on the most unimpeachable testimony. " Drogheda,"
he writes, "is the last genuine Irish town, the suburbs of
Drogheda are genuine Irish suburbs . . . and a great many
people are to be found in the neighbourhood who speak the
old Irish tongue more fluently and more frequently than
the English." Kohl was hospitably entertained by a priest
in Drogheda — whose name unfortunately he does not men-
tion, but who appears to have been a man of superior
intelligence. His house had several harps in it, and he was
delighted by a young blind harper who first played Brian
Boru's march for him, and then an air called the Fairy Oueen.
At Kohl's request the priest also sent for a reciter of Irish,
poetry, who asked what he would wish recited. " If you
were to repeat all you know," said the priest, " we should
have to listen all night, I suppose, and many other nights as
well."
"The man," says Kohl, "began to recite and went on
uninterruptedly for a quarter of an hour. His storv, of which
I, of course, understood not a word, but which my friendly
host afterwards explained to me, treated of a Scottish
enchantress named Aithura, 1 who forsaken by her Irish
lover, Cuchullin, laid a cruel spell upon his son Konnell
which compelled him by an irresistible enchantment, and
entirely against his will, to follow, to persecute, to fight, and
at last to destroy his father, Cuchullin. At the last moment,
after stabbing his father to the heart in spite of the efforts by
which he struggled to resist the horrible impulse of his destiny,
his own heart broke in the struggle, and he and his father died
together, while the revengeful spirit of the cruel enchantress
hovered in exultation over the dying, repeating to her
1 This is a singular distortion of the story of Aoife [Eefy] and the c< iming
of her and Cuchulain's son, Conlaoch to Erin. See above p. 300.
628 LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
treacherous lover the story of his inconstancy and her revenge."
u I was glad," adds Kohl, " of assuring myself by oral demon-
stration of the actual existence of Ossianic poetry like this, at
the present day. The reciter was, as I have said, a simple and
ignorant man, with a good deal of the clown about him, and
his recitation was as simple, unadorned, and undeclamatory as
himself. Sometimes, however, when carried away by the
interest of his story his manner and voice were animated and
moving. At such times he fixed his eyes on his hearers as if
demanding their sympathy and admiration for himself and his
poem. Sometimes I noticed that the metre completely changed,
and I was told that this was the case with all Irish poems, for
that the metre was always made to suit the subject. 1 I also
heard that the most beautiful part of this ballad was the
dialogue of father and son upon the battlefield, but that
a prose translation would give me no idea at all of its
beauty."
The priest told him that "Ossianic poetry was very abundant
in the neighbourhood of Drogheda." " This," he says, " I
had heard before, and from all I heard in Ireland I am much
inclined to believe — which indeed many have also conjectured
— that Macpherson obtained the materials for his version of
Ossian's poems from popular tradition and ballads of the
North of Ireland. The whole Irish nation both in the
south and north, is certainly much more imbued with the
spirit of this poetry and still possesses many more traces
of it than the Scottish people, whether of the Highlands or
Lowlands." 2
1 This of course is a misapprehension.
2 It is curious to observe that Kohl found the race of harpers by no
means extinct in Ireland, and his testimony appears quite disinterested
and trustworthy. " I afterwards heard," he says, " that piece (The Fairy
Queen) on the pianoforte, but it did not sound half so soft and sweet as
from the instrument of this blind young harper. . . . We were very much
delighted with our harper who was certainly an accomplished artist, yet
IRISH AS A SPOKEN LANGUAGE 629
Another very acute German traveller, Rodenberg, describes
the people of Kerry as always speaking Irish among themselves
in i860, while their English was so bad that he could hardly
understand it. He notices, however, that several words of cor-
rupted English were interwoven with their Irish conversation,
which so disgusted him that he remarks, " everything about
these people is patchwork, their clothing, their dwellings, their
language." x He reports at full length a most interesting con-
versation which he had with a priest near Limerick, who
assured him that they had to pull down in order to build up,
that is, pull down the edifice of the Irish language in which the
people were denied education in order to build up a new educa-
tion in the English language. " Nor is it," said the priest,
" the first time that the Irishman has had to turn his hand
Ireland contains many of still greater ability and celebrity. The most
celebrated of all, however, is a man named Byrne, blind also if I do not
mistake. When, therefore, Moore sings —
" ' The harp that once through Tara's hall
The soul of music shed
Now hangs as mute on Tara's wall
As if the soul were fled,'
his lamentation must not be literally understood." He also mentions
that when he was in Drogheda "a concert was in preparation to be
given next week at which seven harpers, mostly blind, were to play
together."
An English tourist, C. R. Wild ["Vacations in Ireland," London, 1857],
mentions meeting a harper at Leenane in Connemara in 1857, who
requested permission to play to him during his meal. He describes him
as " an ancient man bearing a small Irish harp such as were common in
olden days ; . . . the music produced was, for the most part, plaintive and
slow, and the tones particularly soft and melodious." The priest who
entertained Kohl had a number of harps in his house, but, unfortunately,
the German says nothing of their size or shape. From these instances
it would appear that the race of Irish harpers did not quite die out with
those who assembled at Belfast at the close of the last century when
Bunting secured so many of their airs, but that some lingered on till
after the famine. How far these latter harpers could be regarded as the
genuine descendants of the old race is doubtful.
1 " Wenn sic unter sich sind so sprechen sie immer das naturale Irisch,
aber auch das nicht mehr rein sohdern mit corrumpirtem English durch*
630 LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
against his most sacred things. Red Hugh of Donegal des-
troyed the house of his forefathers that the enemy might not
make of it a fortress against his own people, but he wept while
he destroyed it." l
In the Galway fish market Rodenbei'2; could not hear a simrle
word of English spoken. The population of Connacht was at
this time a little under a million, and the census of 1861
showed that about one-tenth of the whole population were
ignorant of English. The population of the city of Galway
in this year was 23,787, of whom 3,511 were ignorant of
English.
According to the census of 1891 something over three-
quarters of a million people in Ireland were bi-linguists, and
66,140 could speak Irish only, thus showing that in thirty
years Irish was killed off so rapidly that the whole island con-
tained fewer speakers in 1 89 1 than the small province of
Connacht alone did thirty years before.
This extinguishing of the Irish language has not been the
result of a natural process of decay, but has been chiefly caused
by the definite policy of the Board of "National Education,"
as it is called, backed by the expenditure every year of many
hundreds of thousands of pounds. This Board, evidently
actuated by a false sense of Imperialism, and by an over-
mastering desire to centralise, and being itself appointed by
Government chiefly from a class of Irishmen who have been
steadily hostile to the natives, and being perfectly ignorant of
the language and literature of the Irish, have pursued from the
first with unvarying pertinacity the great aim of utterly exter-
minating this fine Aryan language.
The amount of horrible suffering entailed by this policy, and
woben. Alles an diesem Volke ist Fetzenwerk, ihre Kleidung, ihre
YVohnung, ihre Sprache" (" Insel der Heiligen," vol. i. p. 185. Berlin,
i860).
1 See Vol. ii. p. 9 for this interesting conversation in which the atti-
tude of the typical Catholic priest towards his national language is
shown.
IRISH AS A SPOKEN LANGUAGE 631
the amount of hopeless ignorance stereotyped in hundreds of
thousands of children, and the ruination of the life-prospects of
hundreds of thousands more, by insisting upon their growing
up unable to read or write, sooner than teach them to read and
write the only language they knew, has counted for nothing
with the Board of National Education, compared with their
great object of the extermination of the Irish language, and
the attainment of one Anglified uniformity. In vain have their
own inspectors time after time testified to the ill results of
denying the Irish-speakers education in their own language, in
vain have disinterested visitors opened wide eyes of astonish-
ment at schoolmasters who knew no Irish being appointed to
teach pupils 1 who know no English. In vain have the school-
masters themselves petitioned to be allowed to change the
system, in vain did Sir Patrick Keenan (afterwards himself
Chief Commissioner of National Education) address the Board
saying, " the shrewdest people in the world are those who are
bi-lingual, borderers have always been remarkable in this respect,
but the most stupid children I have ever met with are those who
were learning English while endeavouring to forget Irish.
The real policy of the educationist would in my opinion be to
teach Irish grammatically and soundly to the Irish-speaking
people, and then to teach them English through the medium of
their native language." 2 All in vain ! Against the steady,
1 In spite of the well-known opposition of the National Board the
National Schoolmasters themselves as early as 1874 in their Congress,
unanimously passed the following resolution : — "The peasants in Irish-
speaking districts have not English enough to convey their ideas,
except such as relate to the mechanical business of their occupation.
Hence they are not able in any degree to cultivate or impress the minds of
their children (though often very intelligent themselves), who consequently
grow up dull and stupid if they have been suffered to lose the Irish lan-
guage or to drop out of the constant practice of it." This is cwn //v what I
and every other spectator have found, and it means th.it the Board of
National Education is engaged in replacing an intelligent generation of
men by an utterly stupid and unintelligent one.
2 Sir Patrick Keenan, C.B., K.C.M.G., who was for a time head of the
Educational system in Ireland, and was employed by the (iovei nrnenj \q
632 LITERARV HISTORY OF IRELAND
unwavering, unrelenting determination to stamp out the Irish
language which has been paramount in the Board ever since the
days of Archbishop Whately, every representation passed un-
heeded, and it would appear that in another generation the
Board— at the cost of unparalleled suffering — will have attained
its object.
This is not the place to discuss the bearings of this ques-
tion still less to drag in the names of individuals, but the
reader who has followed the history of Irish literature to
this will be perhaps anxious to have it continued up to
date, and so 1 may as well here place on record what I and
many others have seen with our own eyes over and over
again.
An Irish-speaking family, endowed with all the usual intelli-
gence of the Irish-speaking population, with a gift for song,
poetry, Ossianic lays, traditional history, and story, send their
children to school. A rational education, such as any self-
governing country in Europe would give them, would teach
them to read and write the language that they spoke, and that
report upon the plan of teaching the people of Malta in Maltese, reported
to Parliament that the attempt to substitute English or Italian for Maltese
in the schools was a fatal one. " Such a course would simply mean that
the people are to get no chance, much less choice, of acquiring a
knowledge either of their own or any other language." This is
exactly true of spots in Ireland, and after his experiences in Donegal,
Sir Patrick Keenan drew up the following memorial : — " I. That the
Irisn-speaking people ought to be taught the Irish language gram-
matically, and that school books in Irish should be prepared for the
purpose. 2. That English should be taught to all Irish-speaking
children through the medium of the Irish. 3. That if this system be
pursued the people will be very soon better educated than they are
now, or possibly can be for many generations upon the present system.
And 4. That the English language will in a short time be more
generally and purely spoken than it can be by the present system for
many generations." When he became head of the National System of
Education, Sir Patrick found himself unable to carry out his own recom-
mendations without personal inconvenience, being probably afraid to
offend his colleagues, and nothing has been since done to remove the
scandal.
IRISH AS A SPOKEN LANGUAGE 633
their fathers had read and spoken for fifteen hundred years before
them. The exigencies of life in the United Kingdom would
then make it necessary to teach them a second language —
English. The basis of knowledge upon which they started,
and which they had acquired as naturally as the breath of life,
would in any fair system of education be kept as a basis,
and their education would be built up upon it. They would
be taught to read the Ossianics lays which they knew by heart
before, they would be given books containing more of the same
sort, they would be taught to read the poems, and they would
have put into their hands books of prose and poetry of a kindred
nature. They had picked up many items of information about
the history of Ireland from their fathers and mothers, they
would be given a simple history of Ireland to read. All this
they would assimilate naturally and quickly because it would
be the natural continuation of what they already in part
possessed. But the exigencies of life in the United Kingdom
makes it necessary to read English poems and English books,
and to know something of English history also, this they
would learn after the other.
Will it be believed, the Board of National Education insists
upon the Irish-speaking child starting out from the first
moment to learn to read a language it does not speak. 1 - It is
forbidden to be taught one syllable of Irish, easy sentences,
poems, or anything else. It is forbidden to be taught one word
of Irish history. Advantage is taken of nothing that the child
knew before or that came natural to it, and the result is
appalling.
Bright-eyed intelligent children, second in intelligence, I
should think, to none in Europe, with all the traditional traits
of a people cultured for fifteen hundred years, children endowed
with a vocabulary in every-day use of about three thousand
1 For many years the schoolmaster was not even allowed to explain
anything in Irish to a child who knew no {English ! This rule, however,
has been abrogated.
634 LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
words l (while the ordinary English peasant has often not more
than five hundred) enter the schools of the Chief Commissioner,
to come out at the end with all their natural vivacity gone, their
intelligence almost completely sapped, their splendid command
of their native language lost for ever, and a vocabulary of five
or six hundred English words, badly pronounced and bar-
barously employed, substituted for it, and this they in their
turn will transmit to their children, while everything that
they knew on entering the school, story, lay, poem, song,
aphorism, proverb, and the unique stock-in-trade of an Irish
speaker's mind, is gone for ever, and replaced by nothing.
I have long looked and inquired in vain, on all hands, for
anv possible justification of this system, and the more I have
looked and inquired the more convinced I am that none such
exists unless it be an unacknowledged political one. Its
results at all events are only too obvious. The children are
taught, if nothing else, to be ashamed of their own parents,
ashamed of their own nationality, ashamed of their own names.
The only idea of education they now have is connected
not with the literary past of their own nation, but with the
new board-trained schoolmaster and his school, which to
them represent the only possible form of knowledge. They
have no idea of anything outside of, or beyond, this. Hence
they allow their beautiful Irish manuscripts to rot 2 — because
1 Dr. Peders2n, a Dane, who recently resided for three months in the
Arran Islands to learn the language that is there banned — at the present
moment the only inhabitant in one of these islands, not counting coast-
guards, who does not speak Irish is the schoolmaster ! — took down about
2,500 words. I have written down a vocabulary of 3,000 words from people
in Roscommon who could neither read nor write, and I am sure I fell
1,000 short of what they actually used. I should think the average in
Munster, especially in Kerry, would be between 5,000 and 6,000. It is well
known that many of the English peasants use only 300 words, or from
that to 500.
2 A friend of mine travelling in the County Clare sent me three Irish
MSS. the other day, which he found the children tearing to pieces on the
floor. One of these, about one hundred years old, contained a saga called
the " Love of Dubhlacha for Mongan," which IVT- d'Arbois de Jubain-
IRISH AS A SPOKEN LANGUAGE 635
the schoolmaster does not read Irish. They never sing an
Irish song or repeat an Irish poem — the schoolmaster does
not ; they forget all about their own country that their
parents told them — the schoolmaster is not allowed to teach
Irish history ; they translate their names into English —
probably the schoolmaster has done the same ; and what is the
use of having an Irish name now that they are not allowed to
speak Irish ! Worst of all they have not only dropped their
Irish Christian names, but they are becoming ashamed of the
patron saints of their own people, the names even of Patrick
ville had searched the libraries of Europe for in vain. It is true that
another copy of it has since been discovered, and printed and annotated
with all the learning and critical acumen of two such world-renowned
scholars as Professor Kuno Meyer and Mr. Alfred Nutt, both of whom
considered it of the highest value as elucidating the psychology of the
ancient Irish. The copy thus recovered and sent to me is twice as long
as that printed by Kuno Meyer, and had the copy from which he printed
been lost it would be unique. These things are happening every day. A
man living at the very doors of the Chief Commissioner of National
Education writes to me thus : " I could read many of irish Fenian tales
and poems, that was in my father's manuscripts, he had a large collection
of them. I was often sorry for letting them go to loss, but I could not
copy the ^th of them. . . . The writing got defaced, the books got damp
and torn while I was away, I burned lots of them twice that I came to this
country. ... I was learning to write the old irish at that time ; I could
read a fair share of it and write a little.'' That man should have been
taught to read and write his native language, and not practically encour-
aged to burn the old books, every one of which probably contained some
piece or other not to be found elsewhere.
Even where the people had no manuscripts in common use amongst
them, their minds were well-stored with poems and lays. A friend wrote
to me from America the other day to interview a man who lived in the
County Gal way, who he thought had manuscripts. Not finding it conve-
nient to do this, I wrote to him, and this is his reply: "Dear sir, aboul
twenty years since I was able to tell about two Dozen of Ossian's Ji i>h
poems and some of Raftery's, and more Rymes composed by others, but
since that time no one asked me since to tell one Irish story at a wake or
by the fireside sine the old people died. Therefore when I hid no
practice I forgot all the storys that ever I had. I .tin old. Your m<>-4
Humble Servant, Michael B."
Another writes : " I have no written manuscript. I had three poems
about the dareg more [Dearg Mor] the first when lie came to Ireland in
search of his wife that shewed (?) him, when Gaul J_c ;« >l I J faughl him and
6s6 LITERARY HISTORY OF IRELAND
and of Brigit.* It is a remarkable system of education, and
one well worth the minutest study that can be paid it, which
tied him he come to Ireland, a few years after, when he got older and
stronger, and taught Gaul for 9 days in succession the ninth day Gaul
killed him then in 18 years after his son called Cun [Conn] came to Ireland
to have revenge and faught Gaul, and after eleven days fighting he was
killed by Gaul. I had a poem called Lee na mna mora [Laoi na mna
moire] or the poem of the big woman who faught Gaul for five days, but
Osker [Oscar] kills her. I had the baptism of Ossian by St. Patrick the
best of all and many others of Ossians' to numerous to mention now, I
also had some poemes of Cucullan the death and the lady in English and
in Irish I had the beettle in English and Irish and when fin [Finn] went to
denmark in English and Irish and many other rymes of modern times.
I seen some address in the Irish times last year where to write to some
place in Dublin where Ossians poems Could be got but I forget the
Number. The people that is living Now a days could not understand the
old Irish which made me drop it altogether their parents is striving to
learn their children English what themselves never learned so the boys
and girls has neither good english or good Irish. Hoping your friends
and well wishers are well, fare well old stock. M . . . ."
1 This is the direct result of the system pursued by the National Board,
which refuses to teach the children anything about Patrick and Brigid, but
which is never tired of putting second-hand English models before them.
Archbishop Whately, that able and unconventional Englishman, who had
so much to do with moulding the system, despite his undoubted sense
of humour, saw nothing humorous in making the children learn to
repeat such verses as —
" I thank the goodness and the grace
Which on my birth have smiled,
And made me in these Christian days
A happy English child ! "
and the tone of the Board may be gathered from this passage, I believe,
which occurred in one of their elementary books : " On the east of Ireland
is England, where the Queen lives. Many people who live in Ireland were
born in England, and wespeak the same language, and arc called one nation."
The result of this teaching is apparent to every one who lives in Ireland,
and does not shut his eyes. " God forbid I should handicap my daughter
in life by calling her Brigid," said a woman to me once. " It was with
the greatest difficulty I could make any of the Irish christen their children
Patrick," said Father O'Reilly of Louisburgh to me, talking of his Australian
mission. For the wholesale translation of names, such as O'Gara into
Love, O'Lavin into Hand, Mac Rury into Rogers, and so on, which is
still going on with unabated vigour, see an article by me in " Three Irish
Essays," published by Fisher Unwin.
IRISH AS A SPOKEN LANGUAGE 637
is able to produce these effects, but with even the smallest
philological regard for the meaning of words, it cannot be
called "education."
Ar n-a criochnughadh ag Rath-Treagh anaice le Dungar,
i bparraiste Tigh-Baoithin i gcondae Roscomain, an ficheadh
la Lughnasa, le Dubhglas de h-Ide, d'a ngoirthear go coitchionn
an Craoibhin Aoibhinn, de phor na nGall-Ghaedhal i n-Eirinn.
Buidheachas le Dia !
Crioch.
INDEX
Abel or aibel, meaning of, 407
Abbots and Abbesses of Kil-
dare, 460
Academy, Royal Irish ; Irish
MSS. in, xi ; neglects to
purchase MSS., 376, 592,
599- 605
Acta Sanctorum, 106, 576
Accentuated verse replaces
syllabic, 541 ff. ; not neces-
sarily derived from an
English source, 544
Adonic poem of Columbanus,
216
Adamnan, St., 154, 234 ; his
life of Columcille, 182 ff. ;
his work on sacred places,
183, 219 ; his " Mystical
Interpretation " and other
works, 197 ; attitude on the
Boru Tribute, 236 ff. ; death,
185
Adam, description of, in Sal-
tair na rami, 416 ff.
Adventures of Dubh mac
Deaghla, 376
Advocates in the Brehon
Law, 585
Aedh Baclamh, saga of, 403
Aedh Guaire, 228 ff.
Aedh Finnliath's sister a
poet, 441
Aedh mac Ainmirech, High
King, 489
Aengus Tuirmeach, High
King, 64
Aed, bishop of Sletty, 151
Aedh Mac Aonghnsa, 494
Ameid, an Irish, 603
Aedh Slane, 95
Aedh, High King, and Colum-
cille, 235
Agilbert, 222
Aimairgin, Whiteknee, 241
243-4
Aird-rinn in Irish metric, 483
Aithcach Tuata, 22, 27, 28 ft".,
402
Ailbe, 106
Aillinn, 117
Aileran, St., 154; his books,
197, 217
Aileach, 169, 232, 5:7
Alcuin, 206, 219
Aldfrid of Northumbria, 220
Aldhelm, 221
Alexander the Great and the
Celts, 7, 8
Allia, battle of, 8
Altars, 55
Alphabet, Ogam, 112
Allegorical poetry in Irish,
596 ff •
Altus, the, of Columcille, 180
Amra of Columcille, 405 ft'.,
479
"Amras" on, St. Set av and
Conall of Inskeel, . 10
Ambicatus, a Celtic c.J-righ
6, 12
Ammianus Marcellinus, 22, 92
Amergin, 8 ; his poems, 478 ff .
Amergin Mac Amhalgaidh,
author of the Dinnseanchus,
93
Anchorites, Irish, 193
Anglo-Saxons, flock to Irish
schools, 220; borrow rhyme
from the Irish, 481, 485 ;
translation, 268
Anglo-Normans become Irish,
493-4 ; misrepresented by
the later English, 557; their
pedigrees, 563; assume Irish
names 609; peers ignorant
of English, 610
Anglo-Irish rhyme, 540
Anderson's " Native Irish,"620
Antipodes, the, doctrine of
familiar to the Irish, 224
Annals, Irish, early mythic
history in, 371 ; reliability of,
38-43 ; list of the principal
annals, 573 ff.
Annals of Boyle, 581
Annals of Clonmacnois, 20')
227, 426, 447
Annals of the Four Masters,
573-573, 119, 1 38-1 51. 206,
227, 232, 266, 409, 427, 430,
44 r, 463, 493, 557
Annals ot Innislallen, 213
Annals of Loch Ce, 470. 581
Annals of Tighcarnacli, 580
see Tighearnach
Annals compiled by John
O'Xcaghtan, 597
Annals of Ulster, 39. 210, 227,
265, 445 ; by whom com
posed, 470; contents, 5^1
639
Anglicisation, 31
Antiphonary of Bangor, 41
Angus of the Boyne, 48, 78
Angus the Culdee, 130, 165,
173, 209, 217, 264-5, 268,
412 ff.
Animosus, Life of St. Brigit,
163
Ana, mother of the gods, 53
Anastasius, Roman Librarian,
218
Aoife, female warrior, 299
Aoibheall, the fairy, 438, 440,
602-3
Ap Harry, Captain, 610
Apollo, 79
Apuleius, 276
Aran, or Arran, "of the
Saints," 194; Caoilte's poem
on Arran, 506
Ardee, 57
Areion, steed of Adrastus, 351
Arnold,_Matthew, 268
Art, history of Irish, 453 ff.
Art the Lonely, High King,
32, 60, 119
Architecture, Irish, 458 ff. ;
ecclesiastical, 460; of houses,
130, 132
Armagh, school of, founded,
134, 216; plundered for the
last time, 463
Argonauts, the, 5S
Argonautics of the pseudo-
Orpheus, 20
Aristotle, 20; his descent, 7S
Aries, Council of, co6
Arthur King, Irish histories
of, 572
Arthurian Stories in Irish, 572
Aracht, Athracht or Atracta,
St., 171; ic^t lite of, 575
Aryan customs in lirehon
Law, 587
Ascoli, 607
Assimilation of words in 1: tsh,
415
Assonance in Iri-.li- Latin
poetry, 2l6
Athairne, the poet, 243, 245,
J36 7
bail r Distress, 584
Ath Comair, bat;
Atkinson, Dr., 42, 172. 2<», :
Three Shafl Book of
Hymns XVJ
040
INDEX
Atticotti, the. 22
Augustine, St., 106
Augustine an Irish monk, 217
Aughrim, the Irish after, 592
Avienus, 20
Babington, Fallacies of Race
Theories, 217
Baile mac Buain, 1 17
Baithine, 173, 182, [87
Ballad, the, not cultivated in
Ireland, 510; nor the High-
lands, 541)
Banshee of the Kings of
Minister, 438, 440
Bangor, the school of, 207 ff.,
215; abbots of, 41
Balor the Fomorian, 286 ff.
Bards, the, contrasted with
the files, 486 ; their num-
bers, 488; as peacemakers,
258; their power, 167, 194,
257 ff.; their mode of recit-
ing stories, 277; their col-
leges, 490; their importance,
491, 495 ff. ; acts passed
against them, 493, 609; Saor
and Daor bards, 486 ff. ; their
metres, 487 ; their lack of
initiative after the Con-
quest, 465; hereditary, 465;
were not harpers, 496; arro-
gance of, 518; bardic fami-
lies, 465
Bardic schools, 239 ff., 260;
intercommunication be-
tween, 279, 496, 525; not an
unmixed blessing, 488, 525;
inside of a later bardic
school described, 528 ff.;
bardic sessions, 600; their
break-up lamented, 522 ;
their end, 524
" Bardic Association," pro-
ceeding of the great, 260,
399, 411; Saga of, 403
Bard Ruadh, the, 476 ff.
Banba, name for Erin, 48
Barrett, Connacht poet, 605
Barron, Phillip, of Waterford,
620
Bavaria, origin of name, 19
Bealtaine — May Day, 90
Bede, 35, 39, 41, 106, 130, 137,
183, 198, 220
Bearla Feine, legal or bardic
dialect, 240, 405, 410, 580,
588
Bealach Mughna, battle of,
4 2 3
Bedell, Bishop, 618 ff.
Becfola, saga of, 403
Belanagare, poem to the
House of, 545
Bel, pagan god, 90
Beli, 90
Belgae, the, 2, 14
Bells struck, not rung, 189
Beg mac De, the prophet,
232, 44 1 . 579
Bellerus, Bellerophon, 292
Benedictines and St. Aileran,
107
Benignus, St., 154, 420
Bernard, St., 207, 209
Berchan, St., the prophet,
210, 211, 44I, 6ll
Bertrand, M., xvi, 5
Betham, Sir William, 175
" Besom of devotion," 206
Bible translated, O18 ff.
Bishops of the Established
Church, 619
Bingham, cruelties of, 476
Bird, soul compared tc a, 214
Blood, lapping, a sign of
affection, 352
Blackbird, monk's poem to,
485 ; of Derrycarn, 505
Board of National Education,
see " National Board "
Bobbio, Irish monastery at,
208 f
Bolgdun, battle of, 489
Boniface, Pope, 217
Bohemia, whence called, 19
Boher - na - breena, origin of
the name, 389
Bonefire, 91
Books, early multiplied in
Ireland, 220 ; first printed
in Irish, 571 ff ; translated
into Irish, 572 ; list of
oldest Irish, 263 ; of law,
590 ; lost books, 471, 575, 635
ff., 592, 605, 606 ; Irish, in
German Monasteries, 450 ;
given as gifts, 520
Book of Acaill, 412, 584-588
Book of Armagh, 36, 91, 140,
147, 150, 184, 218, 267, 462 ;
described, 136 ff. ; contents
of, 140 ; two books of same
name, 265 ; on the druids,
9i
Book of Ballymote, 59, 70, 86,
93, 108, 122, 240, 241, 246,
264
Bookshrines, 457
Book of Clanianald, 537, 568
ff-, 571
Book of Cluain - Aidneach -
Fintan, 557
Book of Cluain Eidhneach,
265
Book of Clonsost, 265
Book of Conquests, see " Book
of Invasions "
Book of Cuana, 265
Book of the Connellians, 59
Books of Cuchonnacht
O'Daly, 439
Book of Downpatrick, 265
Book of Durrow, 265
Book of Dubhdaleithe, 265
Book of Dimma, 268
Book of Epochs, 557
Books of Eochaidh O'Flana-
gain, 265
Book of Fcrmoy, 403
Books of Flann of Monaster-
bcice, 265
Books of Flann of Dungiven
265
Book of Glendaloch, 266
Book of Howth, 210
Book of Hymns, see " Liber
Hymnorum "
Book of Invasions, or Leab-
har Gabhala, 27, 47, 245,
280 ff., 430, 441 ; various
copies of, 576
Book of Innis an Duin, 265
Book of Kells, 268 ; West-
wood on, 462 ; date of, 463
Book of Kilkenny, 198, 227
Book of Leinster, 70, 85, 93,
ill, 129, 234, 241, 264, 278,
310, 316, 330, 341, 354, 380,
434, 444
Book of Lecan, 70, 93 ; when
copied, 670
Book of Lismore, 158, 1C4, 167,
180, 227, 239, 383, 512
Book of Lecan, the Yellow,
168, 197, 401
Book of Leithlin, Long, 265
Book of Mac Egan, the Red,
266
Book of Mac Murrough, the
Yellow, 266
Book of Saint Moiling, 210,
266, 268, 557
Book of Saint Molaga, the
Black, 176, 265, 266, 557
Book of Monasterboice, the
Short, 265
Books of O'Scoba of Clon-
macnois, 265
Book of the O'Byrnes, 472 ff.
Book of Pedigrees of Women,
557
Book of the Provinces, 557
Book of Reigns, 557
Book of Rights, 73, 227, 420
Book of Sabhal Patrick, 265
Book of Sligo, 227, 232
Book of Slane, the Yellow, 265
Book of Synchronisms, 557
Book of Uachongbhail, 72
Borwick on Sts. Patrick and
Columcille, 185
Boru.or Borumha, tribute, 280,
689 ; historical truth of, 252 ;
remission of, 211, 234, 236 ;
Saga of, 393 ff. ; pronuncia-
tion of Borumha, 30
Bow, Mac Leod's, 543 ; the
bow in Montrose's wars, 570
Boyne, condition of the Irish
after the battle of the, 592-
597
Brady, Phillip, poet, C05
Bran's colour, 271
Bran mac Febail, Voyage of,
81, 97, in
Brash on Ogams, 120
Brehon, originally a poet and
historian, 240 ; liabilities of
a, 586
Brehon Law, 107 ; applied to
a dispute on books, 176 ;
survives till the days of
Duald Mac Firbis, 56^ ;
INDEX
641
books, account of, 583-590 ;
antiquity of, 586 n.
Brendan of Clonfert, St., the
voyager, 194, 196, 229
Brendan of Birr, St., 196, 229
Breagh, or Bregia, or the plain
of Meath, whence called,
49, 206
Brennus, 262
Breas the Fomorian, 284 ff. ;
409
Breogan of Brigantia, 46, 49
Brethadh or Breithe Nim-
hedh, 73, 245
Brian Boru, or Bonimha, 140 ;
where educated, 213 ; why
so named, 394 ; a lost life
of, 430 ; his tribute, 431 ;
his court described by Mac
Liag, 431 ; his generosity to
a bard, 433 ff. ; his death,
437 ff. ; verses ascribed to
him, 441 ; his statesman-
ship, 443 ; result of his
semi-usurpation, 552
Brian, son of Eochaidh Mui-
ghmheadhoin, 33, 59
Brian, a Tuatha De Danann
god, 47, 52, 287
Brigit, St., her life, 156 ff. ;
fifteen Saint Brigits, 136 ;
inspires a book, 462 ; birth
foretold by a druid, 92 ; her
poems, 165
Brigit, disuse of as a Christian
name, 162
Brigit, a goddess, 53 ; deriva-
tion of name, 53 ; her cha-
racteristics pass to St. Brig-
it, 161 ; inscriptions to, 262
Brigantes, the, 19
Brigantes, or Clanna Breo-
gain, 46, 67
British Saints, influence of on
Irish Saints, 193
British Museum, catalogue of
Irish MSS. in, 521
Britain, Irish derivation of the
name, 282 ; plundered by
the Irish, 22, 26, 33, 34
Britons call in the Saxons, 23
Bricriu, his feast, 254 ; raises
strife, 357
Brigantia, a goddess, 262
Broccan, or Brogan, hymns to
Brigit, 161, 163
Broccan's poem on the Boru
tribute, 394
Bronte, Charlotte, 258
Bruidhean, or hostelry, de-
scribed, 355, 388
Bruidhean Da Choga, saga,
402
Bruidhean Da Derga, saga,
21 1, 388 t'f.
Brooke, Miss, Reliquesof Irish
Poetry, 301, 361, 364
Bronzes, designs on Irish, 455
Bruadar, or O'Bruadar, poet,
502,615
Brunn, Johann Adolf, 460, 462
Bryant, Mrs. Sophie, 463
Brunhild, or Bruni-Childis, 3
Buchanan, 19
Buanann, 53
Bulls, cause of the tain Bo
Chuailgne, 320 ff. ; 339 ff. ;
description of the Dun Bull,
479
Burke, ix
Burns, 534
Burgundian Library, Irish
MSS. in, 574
Bute, Marquis of, 180
Byzantium, its influence on
Irish art, 454
Caesar quoted, 14 ; on the
druids, 82 ; on the Gaulish
belief in a future life, 94 ;
on the verses of the druids.
259 ; on the Gaulish mode
of lighting, 255
Calpornus, St. Patrick's father,
142
Calatin, or Cailitin, the druid,
327, 342 ; his children, 342 ff.
Callaghan of Cashel, 61, 404
Caithreim of Turlough
O'Brien, 470
Cairpre Niafer, High King,
337, 342
Cainnech, St., 168, 196
Caimine of Iniscaltra, 168
Caimin, or Caminus, St., 214-
218
Cairneach, St., 232
Cairbre Cinn-cait, 27, 29, 402
Cairbre of the Liffey, 32, 65,
. 66, 75, 246 ff., 376 ff.
Cambrai sermon, glosses on,
267
Cameron, Dr., 303-4, 353
Campbells, the, 67, 508
Campbell, Iain, folk-lorist, 499
" Cambrensis eversus," 554
Cambrensis, see " Giraldus"
Campion, 530
Canon Phadraig, 140
Candida Casa, 194
Canterbury, School of, 221
Caoilte, 243, 381 ff. ; poems by,
506 ff.
Carolan, or O'Carolan, 89, 497,
533, 598 ff-
Carmen Paschalc, 106
Carman, Fair of, 219
Carthach St., of Lismore, 195,
211, 233
Carlingford Mountains, 49
Carthain, St., 268
Cas, ancestor of the Dal-
cassians, 62
Castlepollard, 232
Casej s, the, 32
Cathba, or Cathbad, the druid,
96, 302, 3i4i 336, 344
ich" the-, of the
O'Doimells, 19=;, 268
Cathbarr O'Donnell, 175
Cathal, or Cathaldus, St., 211.
222
Cathaoir Mor, his will, 30 ; an-
cestor of the great Leinster
families, 31 ; of St. Fiacc,
152 ; of Columcille's mother,
167 ; of Dermot Mac
Murrough, 452 ; succeeded
by the Father of Finn mac
Cumhal, 366
Cathal Maquire, Compiler of
Annals of Ulster, 39
Carew, Sir George, 476, 553,
560, 564
" Catholic bishop but English
senator," 561
Catholic University of Wash-
ington, xiv.
Cauci, the, 9 n. 1
Ceallach, death of St., saga,
395 «
" Cead-cathach," real mean-
ing of, 31
Ceile De, meaning of, 412
Celestius, 106
Celts, who were they, 1 ;
name how pronounced, 3 ;
invade Italy, 6 ; their
archaeological remains, 2 ;
colonise Asia Minor, 9 ;
break-up of their empire, 9,
15 ; best understood by
studying the Irish, 253, 257,
260 ; their ornaments and
designs, 454
Celtic place-names, 2 ; speech,
extent of country over
which it was spoken, 2 ;
spoken in Galatia in fourth
century, 14 ; extinction of
in Gaul, 15; its iniluence
on French, 16; allied to
the speech of Italy, 11
Cclto-Gcrmanic civilisation
12
Celtiberi, the, 3
Cenn Cruach, 85 ff.
Cetnad, an incantation, 241-2
Cennfaeladh, or Cionnfaola,
the poet, 266, 341, 412, 579,
58i, 584
Celtchair mac Uthecair, 25' ,,
322, 357
Cet mac Mugach, 357 ff.
Cearbhall [Carroll], King of
L< inster, 421 ff.
Charles the Bald of France,
21X
Charlemagne, 208, 448 ;
triumphs of, in Irish, ^72
Chad, St., 220
Chessboard, plundered by
Criomhthann, 25
Chariots among the Irish,
255 ff-
Chimsera, thi
Christian nam< s, Ii ish, be-
coming (it 1
Christian allu >ii as io 1
literature, 250
Chronic ■ 1
227 ; its repute -i
206 ; copied by Mac 1
642
LYDiiX
Chi ysostom, St., 106
Ciaran St., the carpenter's
son, of Clonmacnols, 167,
168, 173, 180, 105 c, ^04 it'.,
-' i >. 375
Ciaran, of Belach Duin, St.,
154
Ciaran becomes Pi. nan in
Wales. 5
Ciaran of Saighir, St., 170
Cian, ancestor of the
Cianachts, 32, 58
Clan's leg, leeching of, saga,
404
Cinaeth O' Hartigan, poet,
380, 429
Cimbaeth, 24, 42, 244, 430
Ciothruadh, a poet, 246
Cin of Drom Snechta, the, 70,
264
Cios, derivation of the word,
589
Cionnfaola,st't'"Cennfaeladh ''
Civil power, conflicts with,
225 tf.
Civilisation, early Irish, 122 ft".
Claudian, 23
Clancys, the, 32, 67
Clanranald, 547 ; book of,
56S tf.
Clanrickard's brothers, 611 ;
memoirs 528
Classical bards of Ireland,
515-536
Classical Irish metres, 530 ff.,
537
Classics taught in the Irish
schools, 215
Clan Creide, 206
Clanna Breogain, the, 46, 67
Clanna Rudhraighe, or Rury,
the, 66, 196
Clan system effected the
clergy, 234
Claudius, bishop of Turin, 208
Clerics, exemption of from
military service, 234
Cliodhna or Cliona, 49
Contarf, description of battle
of, 437 ff., 440
Close, Rev. Maxwell, 376
Clonard [Cluain Eraird]
school of, 196 tf.
Clonfert, school of, 197, 204
Clonmacnois, description of,
204 ff., 219, 234
Clonenagh [Cluain Eidh-
neach], school of, 209
Cnoca or Cnucha, battle of,
258, 365
Cobhthach Caol-mBreagh, 25
Cnamhross, battle of, 381
Coffey, George, 123-5, on
New Grange, 454 ; the
Coffeys, 67
Coelan of Iniscaltra, 164
Coin in Ireland, 125 ; French
coins found in, 220
Cogitosus, life of St. Brigit,
156, 159 ff., 163
Coirpne, the poet, 285
Collinses, the, 62, 64
Colgan, 107, 153, 163, 170, 171,
1 No, iS), [89, 406 ; life and
works, 574 tf.
Colloquy of the Ancients, 116,
[30, 383 It'., 507
Colman, St., 154, 441
Colman Ua Cluasaigh, 202-3,
209, 212
Colman, Clan, 206
Colman, mac Lenene, poet
and saint, 404
Colgan or Colgu of Clon-
macnois, 206
Columba of Tir-da-glas, 196,
213
Columbanus, 207, 215 ff., 219
Collas the three, 33, 66. 430 ;
their modern descendants,
67 ; burn Emania, 378
Coll ciotach, or Colkitto, 568
Colours of the winds, 415
Colours, a study of Irish,
wanted, 416
Columcille, 36 ; nobility of
his lineage, 36, 167 ; his
first teacher, 91 ; date of
his birth, 16 ; his life, 167 ft'. ;
his poems, 180 ff., 409; lives
of, 182 ; death, 186 ff. ; his
farewell to Aran, 195, 234 ;
his conversation with Aedh,
High King, 235 ; visit to
Longarad, 264; makes Latin
rhyme, 480 ; saves the Irish
bards, 489 ; poetic prayer
of, at Culdreimhne, 581
Comgall, St., 168, 177, 207
Comyn, Michael, author, 260,
512, 601
Comyn, David, 597, 601
Conall Cearnach, 58, 60, 69,
95, 255, 300, 310, 315, 337,
351 ft'-, 357, 360
Conan the Fenian, 258, 290
Condon, David, poet, 266
Conang's tower, 282
Conachlonn, in Irish prosody,
414
Conn, clan of, 206
Conn of the Hundred Battles,
31, 65, 66, 75, 368, 587
Conall Gulban, 36, 166
Conaire the Great, 26, 280,
388 ff.
Connellians, book of the, 59
Conor [Concobar or Con-
chubhai*-] mac Nessa, King,
96, 243 ; death of, 69, 5S1 ;
father a druid 83 ; race
dies out, 69, 315 ; deprives
the poets of thebrehonship,
240 ; invited by Bricriu,
254 ; name how pronounced,
254 ; as depicted in the
Red Branch saga, 295 ff. ;
visits mac Datho, 356
Congal Clairingneach,
Triumphs of, 401
Connellan, Professor Owen,
410, 412, 578
Connla and the fairy lad}',
100
Consonants, Irish classifica-
tion of, 540
Consonantal rhyme, 540
Conry, Florence, author, 571
Connacht poems, 605
Conmees, the, 524
Contention of the Bards, 516
ft- 530
Continent, Irish scholars on
the, 448 ff.
Conlaoch, Cuchullain's son,
300
Cooldrevna, or CuilDremhne,
battle of, 177, 182
Cork College, 212
Cork, Irish language in, 626
Cormac, son of Dima, the
voyager, 171, 172
Cormac's glossary, 53, no,
in, 381, 420, 589
Corca Laidhi, or Laidh, 67, 69,
213
Coroticus, epistle to, 144
Cormac, O' Lumlini, 204
Cormac's chapel, 213
Cormac mac Art, or Airt, 32,
4°i 65, 72, 75 ; his appear-
ance, 122 ; his court, 127 ;
his instruction to his son,
246 ff. ; his Saltair, 264 ; his
date, 364 ; his part in the
Brehon Law, 584 ; enacts
special laws, 587
Cormac mac Culenain, 234 ;
his Saltair of Cashel, 265,
420, 557 ; his life, 419 ff. ;
his death, 424, 441
Corcran, a cleric, rules Ire-
land, 447
Corb Olum, ancestor of the
Eoghanachts, 27
Cormac an Eigeas poet, 428
Coolavin [Cul-O-bhFinn], 521
Copenhagen, Irish MSS. in,
536
Cork, Irish language in, 626
Court, description of High
Kings, 390
Courtship of Etain, 401
Courtship of Crunn's wife,
402
Courtship of Becfola, 403
Courtship of Momera, 402
Cows in lona, 193
Crane and fox, 384
Crann-tabhail, or sling, 325
Crede's house, 130 ; lament
for her husband, 383 ff.
Creeveroe, 57
Crete, 45
Crith gabhlach, the, 584
Crimhthan or Criomhthann,
High King, 33 ; saga of his
death, 402
Crimthann Niadhnair, 26,
409
Criminal jurisdiction of
priests, 14
Cruithni, Cruithnigh, or Picts,
282, 292
Crom-Cruach, 85 ff., 134
Crowe, O'Beirne, 402, 407
INDEX
643
Crosses, Irish sculptured, 457
Cromwell, 497, 517, 562, 621
Crunn's wife, courtship of,
402
Cruelty of later English set-
tlers, 601
Cry of the deer, 146
Cuala, Cualann, 49
CuanO'Lochain, poet, 72,264,
441, 447 ff.
Cuana, author, 39, 265
Cuanna, St., 211
Cucoigcriche as a proper
name, 577
Cuchulain, 49 ; first cousin of
Conall Cearnach, 69 ; death
of recorded byTighearnach,
69 ; takes arms, 90 ; his
sick bed, 101 ; cuts ogams,
no; historical character
of, 252 ; his charioteer, 255,
350 ; his chariot, 256 ; son
of a god, 294 ; stories of, in
Red Branch cycle, 296 ff. ;
age, 341 ; slays Curoi, 245 ;
Louth version of his death,
627 ; leaves no descendants,
69
Culmenn, or skin book, 263
Culdee, 412, see " Ceile De "
Cumhal or Cool, 57, 365 ;
sailing of, 366
Cummain, or Cummian, the
tall, 168, 201 ff., 217
Cuimine or Cummene Finn
of Iona, 182, 189 ; his
epistle, 203
Cumhsgraidh or Cumscraith
of the Red Branch, 322,
359
Curoi mac Daire, 245, 342
Currency, Irish system of, 125
Cursing of Tara, 226 ff. ; of
Cletty, 232 ; of Raghallach,
233 ; a saint's curse, 237
Curigh or Curoi mac Daire,
64. 2 45
Cycles, Roman and Alexan-
drian, 202
Cycles of story telling, various,
280
D
Dagda, the, 48, 78 ; called
Eochaidh the ollamh, 52 ;
figures in mythological
saga, 285 if. ; dies, 80
Da Derg, 389 ff.
Daithi, expedition to the Alps,
403 ; ancestor of Mac Firbis,
5' >2
Dagobcrt, it ; of France, 220
Dalrymple, Sir James, 183
Dal Axaide, or old Ulster
tribes, 27
Dalcassians, the, 62, 63, 76,
428
Dal f iatach, 27
Dal Riada clans, the, 34, Co,
68
Dalach, ancestor of the
Q Don n ells, '.'4
Dalian Forgaill, poet, 380,
405 ff. ; his truculence, 410
Dana, the Paps of, 47
Dana, mother of the gods, 47,
286
Danes or Northmen, 209, 211,
212, 419 ; why aided by
Leinster, 394 ; called
"black" foreigners, 435;
their oppressions, 435 ; after
Clontarf, 442 ; despoil bards
and poets, 444 ; plunder
Armagh for the last time,
463
Dan Direach verse, 537
Dante, 198
Daniel Dewar, 624
Daor-chlanna or servile
tribes, 27
Darmesteter, M., on Irish
remains, 216 ; on the an-
tiquity of Irish literature,
253; on "the decadence,"
280
Date of Irish writings, diffi-
culty of fixing, 269
Daughter, eldest married
before younger, 393
David, St., of Wales, 193
Davies, Sir John, 585
De Mensura Pcenitentiarum,
203
Dean of Lismore, sec " Mac-
gregor "
De Danann, see " Tuatha "
Declan, 106
De Bourgos or Burkes, 606
Delphi stormed, 9, 262
Deaf Valley, 345
Deibhidh metre, 414, 446, 469 ;
meaning of the word, 483 ;
found in the oldest poems,
484 ; the official metre of
the bards, 530 ; in Colloquy
of the Ancients, 507 ; in the
"Contention of the Bards,"
530 ; used in Scotland,
547
Deirdre, 26 ; saga of, 302 ff. ;
various versions of, 304
Delbaeth, son of Ogma, 52
Denmark, history of, 78
Degrees, poetic, 242, 260
Dergthini, 63
Design, Irish, not all Celtic,
454
Desi, expulsion of the, 40 ;
saga of, 402
Desmond, kings of, 61
Destruction of books, 107
Derry, 1 1 k (
Derrynane, etymology of, 213
Devonshire, etymology of , 2S3
Development. continw
!■ niarj - iga
1 j e \ i 1 appears to St. Brendan,
200
l)::n muid, High King, 03. 176,
206, 22s n. ; saga "i his
death, 403
ue Of the -
" Colloquy oft!. \
Dialogue of the two sages,
240
Diarmuid O'Duibhne, 380-1,
385
Diarmuid and Grainne'sbeds,
57 ; memorials of their
Hight, 58 ; their elopement,
508
Diancecht the leech, 54, 286 ff.
Diarmuid, the Irish called
Diarmuids by the English,
5ii
DictionaryO'Naghten's Irish-
English, 599 ; Mac Curtin s
and O'Begley's English-
Irish, 599
Dicuil the geographer, 107,
222, 448
Diclietal do Chennaibli na
tuaitlie, 241
Diefenbach, 21, 23
Diodorus, calls Ireland Iris,
21 ; on the Gauls, 94
Dionysius the pseudo, 218 ;
on the druids, 257
Dionysus, 79
Dinnseanchus, contents and
origin of, 93 : on Moy
Slaught, 85, 92 ; on Tara,
127; on Finn, 381; pub-
lished by Stokes, 557
Dinn Righ, saga, 401
Division of Ireland by Ugony
25; by Tuathal, "29; by
Conn and Owen, 31
Dog's flesh, 348
Domhnach Airgid the, 268
Donnelly the boxer, 294
Donn's House, 49
Donatus, St , on Ireland, 164
Donough O'Brien, ode to, 28,
5i8
Dorbene, scribe. 1 8 \
Dottin, M. Georges, 17
Dowth, 48
Downpatrick, battle oi < <<
Downpatrick, si. Pati ii k
buried in, [90; Latin distych
on, 191
Dowden, Dr., bishop of Edin-
burgh, [8j
I )rama, n< arest appn iai h to
in Ireland, 51 1
Drom Damhgaire, si(
402
Druira Ceat, Synod of, 23 \.
241. 1 9
Druids and druidism
etymology 01.
functions of, (»2 ; a
mediaries, 16]
240-1 ; as peac< makers
in Britain, 01
u ihulain, $49 ; sec also
ithbadh"
Dryden, 271
Dryhtli
hs, two, 71
Dubhthach, the I
Dubhthach, father 01 St
644
INDEX
Dubhthach, a fifteenth cen- ;
turv poet, 470
Dubhlacha, love of. for M »n-
gan, 403. 634
Dllbdaleithe, archbishop of
Armagh, 414. 445
Duil of Drom Ceat, 265
Dun in place-names, 2, n. 1
Dumbarton, 147
Dun-Angus, 450
Dungal, the astronomer, 207
ft'.,' 222, 44S
Dun-na-sgiath, 232
Dunraven, Lord, 459
Durrow, monastery of, 170,
217. 234
Dutton's Survey of Clare, 625
Dyfed in South Wales, 40
Eachtra Giolla an Amardin,
603
Eagle, the. 541
Easter, the Irish, 202
Eber and the Eberians, 44, 58,
63-5, 140, 171, 204, 388, 515,
563
Eber Scot, 45
Eber of the White Knee, 46
Eclipses recorded in the An-
nals, 39
Eevil, sec "Aoibheall," 602
Egyptians in Ireland, 219
Egbert, 220
Eire, or Erin, 48 ; whence so
called, 284
Elim, 29
Eleran, St., 164
Elphin, 508
Elysium, Irish, 100
Elizabethan English in Ire-
land, 494
Emania [Emain Macha],
founded byCimbaeth, 24-5;
taken and burnt, 33, 66, 75 ;
cursed by a druid, 314
Emer, Cuchulain's wife, 296,
343, 352 ff., 592
Enda, St., 194, 201
Enna Cennsalach, 75
English plunder poets, 470 ;
speak Irish even in Dublin,
611 ; wars in Munster, 470 ;
English language opposed
to Irish, 608 tf.,see ch. xliv.;
works translated fiom, 572
Eochaidh Muighmheadhhoin,
xv., 33, 65 ; saga of his
sons, 402
Eochaidh, chief of the Desi, 40
Eochaidh, the ollamh, i.e., the
Dagda, 52
Eochaidh, son of Mairid, death
of, 402
Eochaidh, the poet, see "Dal-
ian Forgaill "
Eochaidh Feidhleach, 26
Eoghan [Owen], rival of
Conn, 31, 62, sec " Owen "
Eoghanachts, the, 27. 62, 63
Eoghan, or Owen, Mor, 62
Epistle, Cummian's, 203
Epistolary style, 37')
Epic, approach made by the
Irish to a great, 400 ; ma-
terial for an, 501) ft.
Ere, High King, 337, 349 If.
Erimon and the Erimonians,
44, 58, 64, 204, 515, 563
Erigena, see "Scotus"
Erard, or Errard, sec " Mac
Coise "
Ernaan tribes, 64, 388
Ernin, son of Duach, 71
Esru, 15
Escir Kiada, the, 31
Etan, daughter of Diancccht,
54
Etain, wooing of, 102, 401
Etruscans defeated by the
Celts, 6 ; allies, 9
Eugenians, book of the, 59
Euhemerus, 51
Euhemerising tendency of
Cormac's Glossary, 54 ; of
Keating, 51
Eumenius, 22
Eusebius, 217
Evil eye, 290
Eve, description of, in Sal-
tair na Rann, 416 ff.
Evin, St., 153
Exaggeration in Irish style,
440
Explosive consonants in Ger-
man, 11
F sound in dubh, 221
Fachtna, St., of Ross, 213
" Fair hills of holy Ireland,"
603
Fairy sweetheart or " bain-
leannan," 27, 440
Falba Flann, 61
Famine, effects of the great,
xii., 606
Faroe isles discovered by the
Irish, 224
Fasting on a person, 229, 233,
236, 242, 417 ; the Brehon
Law on, 587
Fe, no
Fearadach, 27, 28, 29 n. 1
Feithlinn, fairy prophetess,
322
Fenius Farsa, 45, 581
Feis of Tara, 73, 126, 176
Fcilire of Angus, 173-4 ; date
of, 265, 412 ff.
Fenians, the, 75, 116, 128 ; the
Fenian cycle of saga, 363 ff. ;
origin of the name, 364 ;
who were they, 371 ii. ;
Keating on them, 37? ; entry
into the Fianship, 374 ; long-
extended development of
the saga, 375 ; kept for
guarding coasts, 389 ; help
Leinster against the High
King, 394 ; imitation Fenian
tale, 597
Fcrdomhnach the scribe, 36,
138, 152
Feredach, n 1
Feredach, King, a poet, 246
Ferccirtne or Feirccirtne, 240,
244, 336, 40S
Ferdiad, 327 ff.
Fergil or Virgilius, 224. 4 jS
Fergus the Great of Scotland,
34
Fergus mac Roy or Roigh,
60, 69, 198, 245, 295, 311 if.
Fergus mac Leide, death of,
401
Fergus Finnbheoil, Fenian
poet, 259, 512, 513
Ferguson, Sir Samuel, poem
on Crom Cruach, 87 ; on
ogams, 120 ; translation
from O'Gnive, 522 ; on the
Brehon Law, 586
Fiacc, or Fiach, of Sletty, 89 ;
his Life of Patrick, 152
ft'., 227 ; learns the " alpha-
bet," 112
Fiachra, brother of Niall of
the Nine Hostages, 93
Fiachaidh, 62
Fiachaidh Sreabhtine, 65, 75
Fiachaidh, High King, 29
Fiacadh.a Tuatha De Danann,
52
File, the, in Ireland, 486
Fierebras, chanson de geste, in
Irish, 572
Fiesole, 164
Finn or Fionn mac Cumhail,
or Cool, in topography, 57,
76 ; his grandfather a druid,
83 ; his fool, in ; goes to
the Lady Crede, 140 ; a poet
246, 270 ; fights with Goll,
258 ; two poems ascribed
to, 275, 408, 479 ; death of,
379 ; character of, 379 ;
helps Leinster against the
High King, 394, Ossian de-
scribes his favourite pur-
suits, 503
Finnen, or Finian, St., of Clo-
nard, 167, 194, 196, 204 ;
verse from his "office," 196
Finnian, St., of Moville, 175,
195, 209
Fintan, St., 209
Finglas, Baron, 210
Finnachta, King, 211 ; remits
the Born tribute, 236 ff., 294
Finnbarr, St., of Cork, 212
Finan, St., of Innisfallen, 213
Finghin, a poet, 246
Finnabra Meves daughter,
334-5
Finghin, King Conor's leech,
337
Fingal, language spoken in
(perhaps Danish), 618
Fithil, a judge, 246
Firbolg, the, 47, 282 ff. ; Mac
Firbis's description of, 563
Fir Domnann, or Domhnan,
282, 328, 563
INDEX
645
Fire-worship, 455
Fitzgeralds, the, 473, see " Ger-
aldines "
Fitzgibbons, the, the Red Bard
on, 477 ; Fitzgibbon, Lord
Clare, id.
Flag in Gartan, 179
Flannagan, King, a poet, 427
Flann mac Lonain, a poet,
427
Flann of Monasterboice, 445 ff.
Fleming, John, 407, 603
Floods legacy to Trinity Col-
lege, 62=;
Fodhla, 48
Folklore, 93, 448 ; the other
world in, 96
Fomorians, the, 51, 78, 282 ff.,
429. 563
" Fooboon," 526 ff.
Forchern, 244
Fortchern, Bishop, 196
Forus Feasa, i.e., Keating's
" History of Ireland," 61
Forus Focal, poem, 470
Fothadh na canoine, 234
Fragments of Irish annals,
234. 2 37
Franciscans' convent, Irish
MSS. in, 513, 567, 575, 577
France, a refuge for the Irish,
553, 567
Frazer, Dr., on Irish gold, 124
French, the ; largely of pre-
Celtic race, 16
Frigidius, i.e., Finnian, 209
Furnival, Lord, 470
Fursa, St., vision of, 198
Gabhra, battle of, 32. 365, 366,
378, 383
Gaedhal, son of Niul, 45
Gaels, old, jealous of the Galls,
556
Gaelic spoken in Highland
regiment, 622
Gaethluighe, 46
Gaileoin, see " Fir Gaileoin "
Galls, the new and the old,
558-9
Gall, St., 197, 207; MSS. in,
267, 268
Gallia, as understood by the
Romans, 3
Galatians, 2
Galatia founded by the Celts,
Gahvay, 554 ; English in, 610 ;
Irish in, 630
Gartan Columcille's birth-
place, 167, 179, 180
Gaul becomes Romanised, 15
Gaulish upper classes re-
semble the Irish, 15
Gaul, Irish commerce with,
218
Geasa (or tabus), Cuchulain's,
30 r, 344, 347, 34S ; of the
Fenians, 373; <>i the Kings
of Ireland, 447
Geanan, druid, 344
Gemman, a poet, 167
Genealogy, Irish, 59 ff. :
Welsh, 72 ; extended to
Noah, 78 ; great Irish books
of, 59 ; strictly kept, 71
Geography, Irish treatise on,
597 ; poem on, 213
Gerald, Earl of Desmond,
poet, 547
Gerald Mac Shane Fitzgerald
610
Geraldines of Italian lineage,
35, 473, 476
Germans, their relations to the
Celts, 8-10 ; defeat the Celts,
14 ; less intellectually cul-
tured than the Celts, 253 ;
unacquainted with rhyme,
481 ; their loan-words from
the Celts, 12-13
Germanus, St., 144
Gernon, Anthony, writer, 572
Gilbert, Sir John, facsimiles
of national MSS., 141, 463 ;
catalogue of MSS., 567
Giles, Dr. 183
Gilla Keevin, or Giolla Caoim-
hghim, the poet, 379, 446 ;
translates Nennius, 48 ;
author of the Book of
Reigns, 557
Gilla in Chomded, poet, 381
Giraldus Cambrensis on the
physical beauty of Irish-
men, 181 ; on Welsh pedi-
grees, 72 ; on St. Brigit, 161 ;
on Brendan's Voyages, 198 ;
on Moling, 210 ; on Irish
illumination and the Book
of Kildare, 461
Glam dichinn, a satire, 242
Glendalough, school of, 209
Glossaries copied by Mac
Firbis, 562
Glosses, the oldest Irish, 267
Gods, confusion between
them and men, 51, 79 ;
races trace their origin to,
77 ; they die, 80 ; come and
go in saga, 294 ; wounded
by men, 325-6
Goddesses of the Tuatha De
Danann, 53
Goibniu, the smith, 286, 2S9
Gold, wealth of in Ireland, 123
ff. ; Irish gold in Denmark,
125
Goldsmith, ix.
Goll Mac Morna, the Fenian,
258, 365
Gordons, the, 569
Gormly, or Gormfhlaith,
Queen, 421, 425; a poetess,
426
Gort. 168
Gothic art, 454
Grattan on the Irish language,
1,25
Grainne, Finn's wife, 380,382,
385, 409
Graves, Rev. Dr., on ogams,
I20 ; discovers date of the
Book of Armagh, 137
Grave of the three Patron
Saints, 190
Greeks, make alliance with the
Celts, 6 ; their topography
compared with that of Ire-
land, 58 ; belief in a divine
ancestry, 78 ; story cycles,
80 ; legend of the gold and
silver ages, 292
Greek taught in Ireland, 217
ff. ; alphabet used by the
Gaulish druids, 259 ; known
to some of the Munster
bards, 604
Greenwell on Irish urns, 126
Gregory, Pope, the Great, 215,
217
Grimm on the life of the gods,
80
Guaire, King of Connacht,
168, 395 ff.
Guardsman's Cry, the, 197
Guinnesses, the, 60
Guy of Warwick in Irish, 572
Gwynedd, 105
H
Haddan and Stubbs " Coun
cils," 141, 145
Halliday's Keating, 364, 558,
615
Hardiman, 221, 432-3, 472, 493,
555, 596, 597-9
Harlaw, battle of, 479
Harris's " County Down," 623
Harpers, race of, not extinct
in 1843, 628 ff.
Haughton, Dr., 434-5
Hawthorn tree, 242
Hebraic adulteration of Irish
legend, 47
Hebrew in Ireland, 217 ff.
Healy, Rev. Dr., 106, 135, 144,
160, 171, 197, 209
Hell, descriptions of, 200, 416 ;
cold, not hot, 504
Hellanikus, 51
Hennessy, Mr., 562, 581
Hennessy, Dick, Edmund
Burke's cousin, 621
Heracles, 114
Hercules, 79
Herakleitus, mot of, 79
Herminones, 59
Herodotus, 51, 79
Heroes confounded with
gods, 51
Hero's bit, the, 254 !i., I
589
Hesiod, 351
Hibernia, derivation of, 516
I [ibernica minoi 1
Highlands of Sc< itland,
I sff. ; u 1 Itten language
same as [rish, 517, 571 ;
lyrical outburst in, 549;
lyrics compared with the
Irish, 605
o 4 6
ixnnx
High-king- ship ol Ireland,
the, 452
Hilary, St., 1 jo
Himera, battle of, 6
Himilco's account of Ireland,
20
Hippocrates, 78
History, none written in Irish
before Heating's, 58a
Hippolytus, an Irish, 403
Hogan, Father, 57 ; docu-
ments de S. Patricio, 75,
136, 1 i-i : Rosnaree, 342 ! on
Curtin, 600; on the Irish-
speaklng Franciscans, 612 ;
and Jesuits, 615
Holywood, Father, 612
Homer quoted, hi, 326, 351
366 ; translated into Irish,
600
Horace uses conaclilomi once,
4M
Hostelry, see " bruiahean "
Hound, Mac Datho's, 354
Howel Dda, 41
Howel, James, on the sound
of Irish, 613
Hull. Miss, her Cuchullin saga
\vi
Hyperboreans, 2
Hy-Brasil, 96
I
Iceland discovered by the
Irish, 223
Iconoclasts, the, 208
Idols in Ireland, 83 ff.
Illvrians beaten by the Celts,
6
Illumination of Irish MSS.,
462 ff.
Illusions caused by magic,
344 ff-. 347
Images, 55, 92
Imbus Forosnai, 84, 241
Immortality a Celtic doctrine,
96
Imchiuin," the happy other
world, 99
Incantation to idols, 84
Indaei, 52
Ingaevones, 59
Ingcel the Briton, 389 ff.
Innisfallen, school of, 213 ;
annals of, 65
Iniscaltra, school of, 213
Inscriptions, oldest, 107
Inscriptions, Celtic, 262
Instruction of a Prince, 247 ff.
Intoxication of the Ultonians,
256
Inver Colpa, whence called,
49
Iona, 180
Ir and the Irians, 44, 58, 64, 65,
68, 198, 204, 515, 563
Ireland, synonyms for, 525
Irish, writers of English, ix ;
literature still remaining, xi ;
proper names, xv ; Texts
Society, 190 ; monks and
scholars on the Continent,
.( |N ff. ; in Germany, etc.,
4 |o : Brigade, Irish spoken
in the, (iji ; art, collapses
With the Normans, 453 ff,
Irish language.recent speeches
made in it, [80 ; why dying,
(>o() ; how far spoken in
Ireland at various periods,
see ch. xliv. p. 608-637 ;
begins to borrow words
from English, 618 ; ignored
by the Protestant bishops,
619 ; so-called professorship
of, in Trinity College,
Dublin, xiv, 625
Iscaevoues, the, 59
Ita, St., 201
1th and the Ithians, 32, 44, 58,
64, 65, 67, 204, 244, 563
Italo-Celtic period, 12
Italy, Celts appear in, 5
luchar and Iucharba, 47, 52,
287
J
Jacobite poems of Ireland,
596 ff., 604
James I., commission on edu-
cation, 554
James II., rekindles hope in
the Irish, 593 ; an Irish poet
on, 594, 596 ; elegy on his
widow, 598
James, the Pretender, 596
Janus, 79
Jarlath, St., 195
Jasonia, 58
Jerome, St., finds the Galatians
speaking Celtic, 14 ; sees the
Attacotti, 22 ; his revision
of the Psalter, 176 ; on the
language of Gaul, 28
Jesters described, 392
Jesuits in Ireland, 615
Jews, 225
Jocelin's life of St. Patrick,
153
Joceline of Furness, 207
John Scotus Erigena, 218, 284,
448
John of Tinmouth, 189
Johnson, Mr., on Irish gold-
work, 125
Jonas, Abbot, 216
Jones, Dr., "Vestiges of the
Gael in Gwynedd," 105
Jubainville, M. d'Arbois de, xi,
3, 10, 11, 130, 215 ; on the
Cuchulain cycle, 252 ; on
the Irish language, 261 ; on
the word Tuatha De
Danann, 286 ; on the Irish
Sohrab and Rustum, 300 ;
on Cuchulain at Emania,
347 : on the name of the
Fenian cycle, 280; number
of MSS. catalogued by him,
404 ; on O'Hartigan's death,
430 ; on Tighearnach, 580 ;
on the age of the Seanchas
Mor, 589
Juggler, a, desciibed, 391
K
Kavanagh, General, 622
Keating, on Buchanan, 19; on
the names of Ireland, 20;
euhemerises 51-2 ; on the
Cin of Dromsneachta, 70,
204 ; on the convention of
Uisneach, 90 ; on the
attendants of the Irish kings,
127 ; on the Tara assembly,
129 ; on Ciil Dremhne, 176;
silent on the cursing of
Tara, 227 ; on Raghallacli,
233 ; on the Ulster and
Connacht wars, 318 ; on
the Fenians, 372 ff. ; on the
Danes, 444 ; on the number
of bards, 488 ; attended the
bardic schools, 551 ; life
and works, 551-560 ; his
language compared with
O'Clery's, 580
Kccvin.or Kevin[Caoimhghin]
St., 195, 209
Keegan, Father James, 301,
401, 498
Kells, 170
Kecnan, Sir Patrick, on the
use of the Irish language,
and on bilingualism, 631 ff.
Kelly, Michael, composer, 622
Keller, Dr. Ferdinand, 184-5
Kcmble, Mr., 456
Kenneth, King of Scotland,
34
Kenneth, St., or Cainneach,
196
Killeen Cormac, inscription
of, 108
Kildare, church of, 158 ff. ;
decorative art of, 160 ;
round tower of, 160 ; book
of, 461 ff ; Earl of, his
library, 611
Kilmacrenan [Cill mhic
NeoinJ, 167
Kilkenny, English in, 608 ;
confederation of, 613
Kilkcllies, the, 33
Kings, number who reigned
at Tara, 42 ; prayer for Irish
king and army, 436 ; obliged
by law to retain bards and
ollamhs, 490
Kincora, or Ceann Coradh,
palace of Brian Born, 431 ;
Mac Liag's ode to, 432
Kinsale, battle of, effects of,
566
" Knight," Irish for, 363
Knock Aine, 48
Knock Greine, 48
Knowth, 48
Kohl, J. C, a German traveller,
626
KiittncT, a German traveller,
623
INDEX
647
Labhraidh, or Lowry the
mariner, 25, 401, 408
Labialism in Greek, Latin,
Welsh, and Irish, 5
Laeg, 102, 331 ff., 350
Laeghaire, of the Red Branch,
255. 257, 357
Laeghaire [Leary], Lore, 25
Laeghaire, or Laoghaire
[Leary], High King, 75, 91,
196
Laidcend mac Bairchida, 243
Language, modification of,
according to date of scribe,
269 ff. ; see also " Irish " and
" English."
Languages spoken at Mar-
seilles, 218
Lanigan, 85
Lands set apart by law for
the bardic orders, 490
Lappenberg, a German
traveller, 026
Lasserian, St., 196
Latin language nearly allied
to Celtic, 11
Latin, first poems made in, in
Ireland, 149 ; familiar to
the Irish, 530 ; works trans-
lated from, 572, 598 ; the
late bards knew, 603 ;
rhymed verses in 482-3
Laurence of Durham, 164
Laurence O'Toole [or Tua-
thail], St., 2ii, 238
Lavarcham, or Leborcham,
303 ff., 343
Law, how administered in
Ireland,584 ff . ; see "Brehon" ;
specially enacted, 587 ; books
of, very numerous, 590
Laymen scholars, 455
" Lay of the Heads," 353
Layamon, 272
Leabhar Breac, the, 138, 150,
151, 157, 164, 173, 257 ; when
copied, 470, 489
Le gach boin a boinin, 176
Leabhar na Feinne, 499
Leabhar gabhala, 281, sec
" Book of Invasions "
Leabhar na h-Uidhre, 70, i63,
264, 366, 380, 388, 405, 444 ;
when compiled, 207
Lecky, Mr., 623
Ledwich, 135-6, 185
Lecan, book of, 59
Lee, as a surname, 13
Leinster, book of genealogies,
59
Leinster, the Boru tribute
imposed on, 393 ff.
Leprechans, King of the, his
journey to Emania, 401
L'Estrange as a name, 577
Letters m Ireland, 105 ff. ;
ogam letters, 113
Lliuyd, 4
Liath Macha, the, 345, 350-
35i
Liber Hymnorum, 146, 149,
I65, l80, 202, 444, 480, 485
Liber Dubhdaleithe, 39
Linche, Dominicke, 611
Lindon, Patrick, poet, 605
Lismore, college of, 211
Lisnacroghera, bronze sword-
sheaths of, 455
Lives of the saints, 239 ; list
of them, 35 ; number still
extant, 574
Livy on the Celtic wars, 8
Loch Ce, annals of, 28, see
" Annals"
Loch Corrib, whence called,
48
Loch Derg, 467
Lochlannachs the, in poetry,
499
Logographers, the Greek, 51
Lombards, the, 208
Lombard, Peter, archbishop of
Armagh, 560 ff. ; on the Irish
language, 617
Longarad, St., books of, 264
Lorica, St. Patrick's, 146
Lothaire, King of France, 208
Love of Dubhlacha forMongan,
4°3. 634
Lowry, or Labhraidh, the
mariner, 25, 401, 408
Lucan, 94
Lucian, 79 ; description of
Gaulish god Ogmios, 114
Lugh the Longhanded, 47, 78 ;
dies, 80 ; reappears, 81, 262 ;
in saga, 286 ff.
Lughaidh [Lewy], son of Ith,
44, 244
Lughaidh, son of Curoi, 342 ff.,
357
Lughnasa=August, 48
Lugudunum, or Lyons, 80,
262
Lughar, a poet, 245
Lyons, see " Lugudunum"
Lugux'don, 107
Lynch, John, 554
M
Mac Adam, Mr., 375
Mac Allans, the, of Scotland,
67
Macalister, on ogams, 120
Macaulay, 51 1
Mac Auliffes, the, <>:, <>\
Mac - an - Bhaird, or Ward,
Father Hugh. 574
Mac Brodin, sa' " T< i.u "
Mac Brody, Conor, historian,
578
Mac Cabe, poet, 605
Mac Carthvs, the. ;: 58, 64,
67, 205, 479 ; of Dul
61 ; Riabhach, 6i ; ,^i n< a
logy of Mac Carthj . M< ■•
61
Mac Carthy, Cormac, King of
Munstei .
Mac Carthy, Diarmuid, pott,
593
Macha, 53, 54 ; her curse on
Ulster, 294 ; saga of, 402
Mac Cathmhaoil, Hugh, arch-
bishop, author, 571
Mac Ceibhfinn, poet, 545
Mac Con, High King, 32, 60,
67
Mac Comber's Christian Re-
membrancer, 626
MacConmara, Donough, poet,
602
Mac Coise, poet, 434, 447
Mac Coise, tale of, 278
Mac Craith, wars of Thomond,
466, 470, 582
Mac Curtin, Hugh, poet, 599
MacCurtin, Andrew, poet, 49,
50, 54 6
Mac Curtin, Hugh, 6g, poet,
470
Mac Cuairt, poet, 605
Mac Cumhaidh, Art, poet, 605
Mac Daire, see " Teig "
Mac Datho's pig and hound,
354
Mac Davids, the, 62, 64
MacDermot, 28; MacDermot,
Roe, 66, 599
MacDermots, princes of Moy-
lurg, 33, 66, 204, 527
Mac Dermot, writes in Latin,
530
Mac Dermot, prince of Cool-
avin, 575
Mac Donnell, John Clarach,
600
Mac Donnell, Captain Alexan-
der, book of, 471
Mac Donnells, the, 60, 546
Mac Donalds, the, 33
Mac Donaghs, the. 33. 66
Mac Donald, Alaster," 568 ff.
MacDugalds, the. 33
Mac Egan, Flann, Brehon of
Ormond, 421, 578, 615
Mac Eochaidh, or Keogh,
Donogh, poet, 475
M i' Finneens, the. 61, <>\
Mac Firbis, Duald, 52, 206,
421; his Book of Gem al
gies, 73 ; its size, 562 ; on
the [rish historians, 74 ; his
life and works, 562 ff.
Mac Gee, D'Arcv, poem, 88
Mai ghi gan, l onnell, or
.Mac I ha iin, ( onnla, 207,
227. 616
Mac Cilia Patrick, 610
Mac Gilla Ke< fe, |
Mac Giolla Meidhre, p
Mac Gilla Cody, Ri
author. 572
iih, Andn
M : ( rraths, the, 524
Ma. gi egoi . d< hi . : Lismore,
-7'- I
Ma< I lale, a: » hi I
Mac 1 G 1
' 1
.1 Laughlii 1
Mac Uag. [1 it, 1
648
INDEX
Mac Leod, Mary, poetess, 54 j
tt
Mac Leod, D. B., poet, 550
Mao Mahons, the, 33, 67
Mac Murroughs, or Murphys,
Che, 31, cio
Mac Namee, Brian, poet, 520
Mac Will, John, 550
Macpherson's Ossian, 628
Mac Raicin, story of, 550
Mac Regol, Gospels of, 268
Mac Ritchie, Mr., 371
Mac Roth, Meves messenger,
336
Mac Robartaighs, the, 175
Mac Rories, the, 33
Mac Sweeny [Mac Suibhne],
poet of Connacht, 605
Mac Vuirichs, bards of Clan-
ranald, 568
Machut, St., 199
Madden, Dr. Samuel, 623
Maelruain, 209
Maelsuthain O'Carroll, 141,
213
Maeidubh, or Maelduf, 221
Maelfathartaigh mac Ronain,
death of, 403
Maelsheachluinn, pronuncia-
tion of, 431
Maelbrigte Ua Maelruanaigh,
scribe, 463
Maedhog, or Mogue, life of,
85
Magennises, the [Mac Aon-
ghusa], 66
Maguires [MacUidhir or Me-
gmdhir], the, 33, 60, 67,
522, 536
Maguire, of Inniskillen, satir-
ised, 476
Maguire, Cathal, annalist, 470
Maguire, Cuchonnacht, lord
of Fermanagh, 519, 523
Maineach, [O' Kelly's Coun-
try], 59
Mailmura of Fahan, poet, 427
Malachy [Maoilsheachlainn],
King, 447
Malachy O'Morgair, 208
Malcolm IV., of Scotland, 34
Manannan, 54, 8i, 99, 102
Mangan quoted, 221, 432, 523
Mannus, 59
Manuscripts, illuminated, 461
Maolmordha MacSweeny's
house described, 520
Marainn Phadraig, the, 148,
270
Marco Polo in Irish, 572
Maundevilles travels in Irish,
572
Marianus Scotus, 209, 449 ff.
Martyrology of Tallaght, 151 ;
by whom composed, 209
Mary of the Gael, the, 162
Marseilles, trilingual, 310
Masters, see " Four Masters"
Maud, modern form of Meve
[Meadhbh], 26
Masn e, bardic college, 490
Max Midler, 270
Meath, book of, 59; made into
a province, 29
Memory lor ancestors, 72 ;
Celtic memory is long, 271
Meehan, Father, 507
Menapii, the, 10
Merlin the prophet, 210
Metempsychosis, hash belief
in. 95, 381, 400
Metal-work, Irish, 456 ff.
Metre, poems dependent on,
273 ff.; no alteration of feet,
beat, or stress, in Irish
metres, 408 ; metre of the
Feilire, 413 ; of Saltair na
Kann, 414, 418 ; Droigh-
neach metre, 479 ; metres
of the bards, 4S7 ; classical
metres merge in popular,
497 ; the Ossianic metres,
510, 513 ; Dr. Mac Hales, id.;
Little Rannaigheacht, 526 ;
Great R., 530 ; Roman
metres, 530 ; Seadna and
great Seadna, Ae-fri-slighe,
Great and Little Deachna,
531 ; how to read the classi-
cal metres, 532, 545 ; neces-
sitate condensed thought,
537 ; examples of late
metres, 548 ff.
Metrical text books, 241 ff.
Meve or Meadhbh, 26 ; how
pronounced, 31 ; in topo-
graphy, 57 ; in saga, 319 if. ;
furious temper of, 323 ;
fights like Boadicea, 335 ;
she and Oilioll receive the
Firbolg, 283
Meve's poem on Cuchorb, 273,
ff.
Meyer, Kuno, Dr., 41, 86, 97,
114, 301, 354, 411, 413 ; on
Irish scansion, 232-3
Mi-chuarta or Miclh-Chuarta,
the house of, 32, 248
Midir, 102
Middle-Irish, 268
" Midnight Court," the, 601
Migne, 203
Milan, Irish MSS. in, 267
Mill first, in Ireland, 32
Miledh Easpain, 46
Milesius, Latinised form of
Miledh, 17 ; his genealogy,
45 ; his son Donn addressed
as a god, 49, 50, 77
Milesians, different dates as-
signed to their landing, 17,
60 ; by what route did they
come, 18 ff. ; their charac-
teristics, 563
Milton, 5C9
Missal, ancient Irish, 436
Missionaries, British, in Ire-
land, 106
Missionaries, Irish, abroad,
223, 488 if.
Mobhi, St., school of, 168, to6
Mochuda, St., or Carthach,
21 1. 233
Modan. poet, 246
Moengal of St. Gall, 448
Molesworth, Robert, 621
Moling, St., 209, 210, 236 ff.
394
Molaise, St., 174, 177, 178
Momera, courtship of, 402
Monasterevin, 153
Monasteries, rival, fight, 234;
established by lush monks
on the Continent, 449, 451
Montrose's wars in Gaelic
568
Montelius, Prof., 124
Mongan, 99, 380, 403 ; Dalian
and Mongan, 410 ff. ; " Love
of Dubhlacha" for, 634-5
Moran, the jurist, 246
Moran, Cardinal, 198
Moreen ni Culenain, air, 549
Moore, Irish History, 65 ; his
melody, " Rich and Rare,"
444
Morini's life of St. Cathaldus,
211
Morighan, or Mor-rigu, the,
war-goddess, consorts with
the Dagda, 288 ; assists the
Tuatha De Danann, 291 ;
is wounded by Cuchulain,
325 ; speaks to the Dun
Bull, 339 ; cry of, 478
Mountjoy, Lord, 476, 564
Moville, school of, 167, 209
" Mower, the," a poem, 604
Moy [magh] Bolg, massacre
of, 29
Moy Cullen, whence called, 48
Moy Leana, battle of, 31, 368
Moy Mell, 99, 199, 201
Moy Muirtheimhne, Great
Breech of, 326
Moy Mochruime, battle of, 32,
60, 355, 376; date of, 380,
382
Moy Rath, battle of, 382, 403,
413
Moytura, first battle of, 284
Moytura, battle of South, 80,
116, 289 ff.
Moy Slaught or Sleacht, 84, 85
Mucaille, bishop, 158
Muiredach takes the surname
Mac Carthy, 61
Muirchu Maccu Machteni,
his life of St. Patrick, 136,
142, 148, 151
Muircheartach Mor mac Ear-
ca, 232
Muircheartach of the Leather
Cloaks, 428
Muirthemni, derivation of, 49
Muiredach Mac Robertaigh,
sec " Marianus Scotus "
Munster, book of, 59 ; the two
Munsters, 29
Mura, St., 167, 1 82
Muratori, 149
Murough, or Murrough [Mur-
chadh], son of Brian Boru,
440
Murough the Scotchman, see
"O'Daly," 492
INDEX
649
Murphy, John, poet, 604
Murphy, Father Denis, 564
Murphys, the, see "Mac Mur-
rough "
Music, Irish, 463
Musicians in Ireland, 496
Myth, runs into history, 57
Mythology, Hellenic and
Teutonic, 78
Mythological cycle of sagas,
271 ft.
N
Names of Ireland, various, 20
Names, Christian, disused,
162 ; the Irish ordered to
adopt English names, 609 ;
the Normans change their
names, 609
"National" Schools, the, x,
xi, 220
National Board, unsym-
pathetic teaching of, 162,
179, 606 ; sets itself to ex-
terminate the Irish lan-
guage, 630 ff.
Navigatio Brendani, 198
Nechtan's dun, 11 1
Neith, god of battle, 54
Neide, 240, 245
Nemedians, the, 47, 82, 280,
43o
Nemon, wife of Neith, 54
Nennius the Briton, 18,
Norsemen destroy the church
shrines, 457, see " Danes"
Normans, sec "Anglo- Nor-
mans "
Norwegians, or "white for-
eigners," 435
Nuada of the silver hand,
284 ff.
Nugent of Delvin, poet, 492
Nugent, Robert, S.J., 612
Nuts, mystic, 447
Nutt, Alfred, 88, 95, 635 ; on
the Fenians, 371, 379
O
Oak-tree, the, 169, 170
Oath by the elements, 25, 2S,
88
O'Briens, the, of Thomond,
35, 64, 452, 493, 5i8
O'Brien, 'furlough, exploits
of, 470, see " Caithreim"
O'Brien Donough, earl of
Thomond,hangs three poets,
493
O'Brien Donough, fourth earl,
5i5,5i8
O'Brien, Turlough, poet, 516
O'Brien, Murrough, 569
O'Brien, Father E., theory on
St. Patrick, 137
O'Brien, Patrick, Irish prin-
ter, 601-2
O'Bruadar, David, poet, 592,
615
O'Byrnes, the, 31, 544, 610 ;
their poets, 472 ff. ; their
generosity, 475 ; ode to, 46
O'Byrne, Rose, burnt alive,
474
O'Byrne, Fiach, 475
O'Callaghans, the, 32, 61, 64,
477
O'Cassidy, Gilla Maduda, poet,
441, 446
O'Cavanaghs, 60, 64, 68, 75,
473
O'Carrols, the, 32, 58
O'Cainte, Fearfeasa, poet, 516,
535
Ocha, battle of, 579
O'Cleary's, the, 33 n.
O'Clerys, or O'Cleary . anti
quariansof Ulster, 154, 264 ;
poets, 524, 573
O'Clery, Lughaidh, poet and
historian, 516, 564 ff.
O'Chry, Michael! Book of
-Genealogies, 68 ; poem
copied by, 170 ; Feilire,
231, 239; on the dispersion
of the old books, 266 ; lives
of tlie saints, 406 ; 1
Invasions, see sub vo e ; his
life and works, 573
O'Clery, "Adventures of Ed-
mund," 597
O'Clery, P
grille] one oi the Four
Master i, 577
O'Coffeys, tin-, 524
O'Coffey, Mala ' ■ \7 \
O'Con ' mnacht, the,
60, 64, 204, Zl
527,
O' Conors of Belinagare, poem
to their house, 545 ff.
O' Conors of tin- South, the, ~,j.
O'Conor Falv, 31, (no
O'Conor Turlough, High
King, 34
O'Conor, Charles, of Balina-
gare, 341, 578 ; on the wars
of the Gael and Gaill, 434 ;
onCarolan the harp
on O'Curneen's poem, 540
O'Conor Kerrys, 66
O'Conor, Roderick, last High
King of Ireland. 3 |
O'Conor, Rev. Charles, 57S,
58o
O'Conor Don or Donn, 34, 65 ;
the O'Conor Don, 65 ; his
MSS., 471, 559
O'Conor, Sligo, 545
O'Connor, Dermot, translator
of Keating. 558
O'Connell, Daniel, ph
nomyof, 62 n. ; his d<
64,65; failed to encourage
the national language,
626
O'Conollys, the, 35
O'Coileains or Collinses, 62
O'Cronins, 62
O'Crowleys, 65
O Curneen, Father Patrick,
poet, 545
O'Curry, Eugene, xi, 116, 117,
137, 154, 211, 606 ; his list
of lost books, 265 ; on the
number of existing Irish
sagas, 279, 358, 404, 426,
433 ; on some poems in
Book of Leinster, 471 ; on
ocht-foclach metre, 544 ; on
Mac Firbis's ge n< al
56 1 ; his work on the
Brehon Law, 583
( H i.dys, the, 62, 64, 51 \
O'Daly, Donogha Mor, of
1 1 13 Le, poet, 271, 466 11.
O'Daly, Cuchonnacht, L ><>!•;
of, 439
O'Daly, Fergal, poet, 470;
Maurice, ditto, ;. 1 . D
mot, ditto, 470
O'Daly, Angus, poet .ind
satirist, 473, 470 ff.
( )'l >aly, Mm p. igh, poet,
story of, 49
O'Daly, John,
publisher, 602 ; hi I
lite poetry,"
O'D irans, thi 1 auti-
quai i 1
1 1 1 > inn lis, tii.-. 35, 1
107, 516
( ) I ) : I Colnin-
cille, 157, '77.
1 1 1 >
O'Donnell's Kerne,
O'Donnell, Hugh :
1 1 1 ■
O'Donnell, R H , \L
650
jynux
O'Oonnell, John Francis,
English poet, 575
O'Donnell, General, 62a
O'Donnell, John Clarach,
poet (read Mac Donnell),
(100
O'Donnell's quarrel with
Murrough O'Daly, 401 ff.
O'Donnellan, Brian, poet, 520
O'Donoghue, of the Glen,
62 : MOr, 62
O'Dogherties, the, 02
O'D novans, the, 62
O'Donovan, John, 66, 72, 107 ;
his Satires of Angus O'Daly,
491 ; prosody, 540 ; his
edition of the Four Masters,
57S if. ; his work on the
Brehon Law, 583 ; on the
word troithlighe, 475
O'Dowdas, the, 33
O'Driscolls, the, 58, 67, 535
O'Dugan, John, inor, poet,
469 ff.
O'Duigenan, one of the Four
Masters, 577
O'Dunn, Gilla - na - naomh,
poet, 447
O' Flaherties, the, 33, 60
O' Flanagan, Theophilus, 28,
310, 505, 517
O'Falvies, the, 65
O'Flannghaoile, Mr., 601, 603
O'Farrells, the, 66, 315
O'Flynn, poet, see" Eochaidh"
O'Gara, Friar, collection of
poetry, 471
O'Gara, Fergal, patron of the
Four Masters, 576, 578.
O'Gara, of Coolavin, 66
O'Garas, the, 32
O'Gallaghers, the, 65
O'Garvans, the, 62
O'Gallagher, bishop of Rap-
hoe, sermons, 600
O'Grady, Standish Hayes,
[Standaois Aodh O'Grad-
aigh] on Ossianic poetry,
499, 506 ; on the Midnight
Court, 602 ; his "Silva
Gadelica" quoted passim.
O'Gnive, poet, 522, 537
Ogam writing, 105, 107-
108 ff. ; 133. 458, 487
Ogma, the god, 113-15, 285
O'Gormans, the, 31
O'Haras, the, 32, 521
O'Hanlons, of Orior, the, 33
O' Harts, the, 35
O'Halloran, the historian,
525 ; his history of Ireland,
211, 364
O'Hartigan, Dunlang, 440
0'Hartigan,poet,see"Cinaeth"
O'Hanlon, Father John, Lives
of the Irish Saints, 198
O'Hehirs, the, 62
O'Heynes, the, 33
O'Heffernan, poet, 604
O'HTginses, the, 524
O H igrinn Teig, [Tadhg] Dall,
poet, 519, ff., 537
O'rffginn, Conor, poet, 520
O'Higgin, or HTginn, John,
poet, 473
O nuidhrin, poet, 4(1;)
O'Hussey, Maelbrigte, 612
O'Hussey, Eochaidh, poet,
474, 51*9, 523 if.
O'Hussey, Bonaventura, poet
and author, 534
Oilioll, husband of Mcve, 319
it. ; 354 it-
Oirfideadh, a musician, not a
poet, 496
Oilioll Olum, King of Mini-
ster, 31, 58, 60, 62 ; a poet,
246
O'Keefes, the, 32, 62, 64
O'Keefe, Father, poet, 604
O'Keefe, Art 6g, 516
O'Keefe, Donal 6g, slain at
Aughrim, 64
O'Kellys, the, 60, 67, 205, 283,
612
O' Kelly, of Bregia, 35, 610
Ollamh, or Ollav, his in-
auguration ode to a prince,
28 ; training of an, 278,
401, 488 ; the head of the
files, 488
Ollamh, grandson of Ogma,
52
Ollamh Fodhla, 245
O'Learys, of Roscarbery, 67
O'Longan, Micheal 6g, poet,
547
O'Looney, Brian, 546
O'Lochain, 441, sec " Cuan "
O'Lugair, 273
O'Longan, scribe, xi
O'Mahony, John, the Fenian,
179- 364, 558
O'Mahonys, Finn and Roe,
the, 62 ; of Carbery, ditto.
O'Malone, 206
O'Mahon, a scribe, 228, 341,
403
O' Mellon, friar, narrative of,
568
O'Meaghers, the, 32, 477
O'Meehans, the, 62
O'Melaughhns, the, 206
Omens, Cuchulain's evil, 343,
347
O'Mores, the, 66, 315, 473,
610
O'More, Rory, 615
O'Moriartys, 62
O'Mullane, 62, 64
O'Mulconreys, the, 524, 545
O'Mulloy's prosody, 537, 572 ;
his " Lamp of the Faith-
ful," 572 ; grammar, id., 617
O'Mulchonry, one of the Four
Masters, 575
O'Mulconry, Maurice, aided
the Four Masters, 575
O'Mulchonry, Tanaidhe, poet,
446
O'Neill, abrogates his title,
527, 529
O'Neill's, the, 35, 58, 60, 64, 65,
74. 453. 515
O'Neill, Owen, 614-5
O'Neill, of Clanaboy, 623
O'Neill, Shane, 65
O'Neills, wanderings in 1607
566
O'Ncaghtan, John, poet, etc.,
597 ft",-
O'Ncaghtain, or O'Naghten
Teig, poet and lexicogra-
pher, 599
O'Pronty, Patrick, 258
O'Rahilly, poet, 604
Ordeal, druidic, 90
Orbsen, 48
Orders of Saints, the three,
192-3
O'Reillys, the, 33, 477, ^27
O'Reilly, Father, O S P., 567
O'Reilly's "Irish writers,"
221, 429, 433, 469, 470 if.,
524, 536, 564, 597
O'Regans, the, 35
Oriel, Book of, 59
Oriel, i.e., Monaghan, 67
Ormond, Duke of, born 1607,
614-15
Orthography of the Irish
Latinists, 185
O'Rorkes the, of Breffny, 53,
205, 527, 545
O'Rorke, Brian, poem to,
520
O'Ryans, the, 610
O'Seasnan, poet, 446
O'Shaughnessies, the, 33
O'Sheas, the, 65
Osgar an fleau [na suiste], 27
Ossian, or Oisin, Finn Mac
Cumhail's son, 364 ; his
daughter married to Cor-
rnac Cas, ancestor of the
L ' assians, 76, Macpher-
soi's Ossian, 364 ; oldest
poems ascribed to, 381 ;
meets Patrick, 383 ; lives in
Tir na n-6g, 498, 601 ; dia-
logue with St. Patrick, 501 ;
complaint of, in his old age,
508
Ossianic poetry, 466, 498 ff ;
its subject matter, 499 ; half-
acted, .511 ; authorship of,
512 ; largely post-Danish,
513 ; list of poems, 513 ; imi-
tation Ossianic poem, 597,
601 ; orally preserved, 606,
628
O'Sullivans, the, 32, 62, 477
O'Sullivan, Teig Gaolach,
poet, 548, 602
O Sullivan, Owen Roe, poet,
604
O Sullivan, Beare, 465
Ota, 207
OToomey, the Gay, poet,
604
O'Toolcs, the, 31, 473
Ovid of Ireland, the, 466
Owen [Eoghan], rival of Conn
of the hundred battles, 13,
62, 75. L53, 368; his "Sail-
ing," 369
INDEX
651
Owen Mor, son of Duthracht,
317, 358
Oxford and Celtic Studies, xii,
414
P, loss of the letter in Celtic,
4 ; rarely used in Irish, id.
note ; becomes c in Irish, 5
Pagan element in Irish lite-
rature, 243, 251 ff.
Pagan Irish better artificers
than the Christian Irish,
456
Pale, the, 554 ; English con-
fined to, 609 ; Irish spoken
universally in it, 612
Palgrave, Sir Frances, 199
Palladius, 106, 137
Pan, 79
Pantheon, Gaulish, assimi-
lated to Roman, 112
Pan-Celtic Society, lays and
lyrics of, 191
Papists, judgment of the Bi-
shops concerning, 555
Paradise, MacGilla Keefe
travels to find site of, 433
Paris, life of Columcille found
in, 189
Parliament of Clan Lopus,
260
Partholon, 281, 429
Patrick, St., 35 ; life of in
Book of Armagh, Father
Hogan's edition, 36 n. says
that the Irish worshipped
idols, 84 ; overthrows Crom
Cruach, 87 ; his Confession,
112; listen to the Fenian
stories, 116; date of his
landing, 134; his com -
nions, 134 ; more than '<, 1
Patrick, 136 ; date of his
death, 136 note ; confession
of, 141 ; his life, 141 ff ; pro-
phesies to St. Brigit, 158 ;
as a Christian name, 162 ;
his advice to SL Carthainn,
268 ; made verses, 409 ; is
treated with banter in the
Ossianic lays, 500 ; is made
to denounce Ossian, 501 ff. ;
birth of, recorded in Chro-
nicon Scotorum, 581 ; re-
vises the Brehon Laws, 5S8
Pavia, school of, 208
Pedigrees, Irish, not for sale,
69 ; importance of to the
Irish and Welsh, 72 ; chant-
ing of, an incitement to
battle, 331
Pelagius, 41, 106
Penal Laws, 512, 554, 594
Persecution of Irish authors,
560 ff.
Pei sian history, 78
Petrie, xii, his antiquities of
Tara, 447 ; on Irish shrines,
457
Petronius, 276
Petty, Sir William, 15, 618
Philip of Macedon and the
Celts, 7
Philomela, an Irish, 393
Phoenicians, 6
Picts of Scotland, 34 ; or
Cruithni, 282-3, 37 1
Piers Ploughman, 486
Pindar, 51
Pig, Mac Datho's, 356
Pinkerton on Adanman's
Columcille, 183
Plague, the, of 664, 201
Pliny, 89
Plutarch, 79
Poets, originally judges also,
241 ; text books of, 241 ;
antiquity of their text
books, 243 ; oldest pre-
Christian poets in Ireland,
244 ; poet-saints, 413 ; Irish
poets of Norman race,
493 ; see also " Bard "
Poems, the first written in
Irish, 242, 273 ff. ; topogra-
phical, 469 ; historical, 445
Poetry more easy to date than
prose, 269 ; obligatory on
the Fenians, 373 ; mixed
with prose in the sagas,
399 ; early technique of,
406 ff. ; in the " wars of the
Gael with the Gaill," 441 ;
anonymous more interest-
ing than that by known
authors, 448 ; tribal, and
family, 472 ; development
of, 479 ff. ; last specimen of
unrhymed, 479 ; well re-
munerated in Ireland, 4S6 ;
allegorical, 597 ; Jacobite,
596 ff.
Pomponius, Mela, 21, 94
Poison, used by Elizabethan
statesmen, 554, 567
Pope, 271
Pork as a food, 104
Posidonius, 254
Pot of avarice, 489
Pottage, Columcille's, 174
Pre-Danish poets, 405 ff.
Priests of the early Germans,
14
Priests, early, their simple
equipment, 135
Printing press, want of in
Ireland, 534
Presbyterian view of Church
Government, 183
Prince, advice to a, 247 ff.
Prose mixed with verse, 260 ff.
399
Proceedings of Gnat Bardic
Association, 260
Prophets, the four great, of
Erin, 210
Prosper's Chronicle, 106, [37
Prophecy, druid's, about St.
Patrick, 91
Provinces, different charac-
teristics of their speech,
617
Psalter, the copy of in the
" Cathach," 175
Ptolemy Keraunos, slain by
the Celts, 8
Ptolemy on the names of
Irish tribes, 19, 22
Pursuit of Diarmuid and
Grainne, MSS. of, 385
Pyramids, Dicuil's account
of the, 222
Q
Q. The Indo-European gut-
tural changed into P, 4
R
R passives, in Celtic 11 n. 3
Raftery, a Connacht poet, 96,
605
Raghallach,Kingof Connacht
233
Rannaigheacht, Great, metre,
418, 487, Little R., 526
Rathcoole, 57
Rathkenry, bardic college of,
490
Ratisbon, Irish monastery of,
449, 451
Reality of the characters of
the Cuchulain saga, 252
Reciter, Irish, described, 627
Red Sea, Irish on the, 223
Red Branch, the, warriors of,
66 ; House of, 295 ; saga,
cycle of, 293 ff. ; saga not
materially altered after the
Norman Conquest, 466 ;
connected with the Brehon
Law, 589 ; in topography,
56 ; " Red Branch Knights,"
363
Reeves, Dr., 41, 171-, 181, 182,
218
Reeves' collection of Irish
MSS., 375, 3«5
Reinach, Solomon, M., 5, 454
Reim Rioghraidhe, O-'Clery's,
576
Reincarnation, Irish stories of,
95. 38i
Religion of Celts and Ger-
mans different, u, [3
Religious songs of Connacht,
148, 270, 467, 606
Renan, 225
Residences of the High Kings
of Ireland, 232
Rethwisch, Dr. Ernst, 108
Revue Celtique, 217, ei pas-
sim
Rhine, derivation of the name,
10
Rhyme amongst tin- Irish. 480
n. ; when first met with,
481 ; a Celtic invention,
481 11. : puii 1 1 rhymes in
seventh 1 entury, 485 ; dei l-
vation of the word,
•• Irish rhynu-," 539, 11 ; An-
glo-Irish rhyme, 540 ti. ,
6 5 2
INDEX
vowel rhyme replaces con
sonantal rhyme, 5 1 1
Rhys, Dr. John, on theCrom
Cruach, 85, 87 ; on Ogma,
1 [3 ff. ; on Ogam insa ip-
tions, 1 j 1 ; on the Lochlan
nachs, 500
Ricardus Corinensis, 23
Ridgeway, Professor, on coin-
age, 1 -25
Rinuccini on the Irish lan-
guage, 013
Riuii aird metre, 4T3
Rivers help to heal Cuchu-
lain, 334
Rodan.or Ruadhan, or Lothra,
St., 106, 227 it'., 231, 403
Rodenberg, a German tra-
veller in Ireland, 629 ff.
Rolleston, T. W., poem on
Clonmacnois, 205
Romans, their relations with
the Celts, 8 ; defeat them,
9 ; never invaded Ireland,
17 ; chase the Irish out to
sea, 23
Roman tax collector, the, 79 ;
Roman mission of St. Pa-
trick, 142 ; Roman metres,
530
Romanised Britons, the, 104
Romanesque, Irish, 460
Romance, or saga, in Greek
and Latin, 276
Rome stormed by the Celts, 8
Ros, or Ross, poet, 408, 508
Ross, the school of, 213
Rosg, the poetry so-called, 146,
479
Roscommon, 509
Round Towers, the, derived
from the East, 459 ft".
Royal Irish Academy, see
" Academy "
Rudricians, or Clanna Rudh-
raighe [Rury], 66, 388
Ruadhan, St., see " Rodan"
" Runs" in Irish, 277
Russel, T. O'Neill, 394
Ryan's history of the Co. Car-
low, 210
Sacra, Ireland called, 20
Sacred tree, 170
Sacrifice, human, 83, 85, 92,93
Sadhbh, wife of Oilioll Olum,
31 ; how pronounced, 31,
32
Saints, three orders of, 192-3
Saints take different sides,
233-4 > figure in romances,
234 ; saints who were also
poets, 413 ; the number of
them buried in Aran, 194 ;
list of their lives, 574-5 ; three
works by Colgan on them,
577 ; Rook of the Saints, 563
Sailing of Ciimhal, the, 366
Sailing of Owen Mor, the, 369
Saga, or romance, in Greek
and Latin, 276 ; in Irish,
277 tf. ; unconscious de-
veloping into conscious,
378 9 ; list of mythological
sagas, 292; of Red Branch
s.ig.is, 361 ; of Fenian sagas,
3S5 ;of miscellaneous sagas,
401 ti. ; golden era of the
Irish saga, 387 ; list of sagas
in Book of Leinster, 278,
287 ; all saga shot through
with verse, 399 if. ; the great
number of lost sagas, 400 If. ;
sec also "story "
Salmon of knowledge, the, 448
Saltair of Tara, 72, 264, 555
Saltair of Cashel, 265-6
Saltair na rann, 414 ff.
Samhan's Day, 247
"Sancti Venite," 150
Satire on a prince, mode of,
242 ; power of, to raise
blisters, 328 ; the first satire
ever made in Ireland, 285,
409 ; Dalian threatens Mon-
gan with a satire, 411 ; the
satires of Angus O'Daly,
476 ff
Saxon invasion of Britain, 23 ;
Saxon chronicle, 23, 42 ;
Saxons flock to Armagh,
134 ; Saxon genealogies
given by Mac Firbis, 563
Saxo Grammaticus, 78
Scansion of Irish classical
metres, 532
Scathach, a female trainer of
warriors, 298
Schaffhausen, Library of, 184
Schools, curriculum in early
Irish, 215 ff. ; Anglo-Saxons
educated gratis in the Irish,
220 ; length of term in,
529; closed by James I., 554 ;
old Irish texts used in, 155
Schoell on Adamnan's Life of
Columcille, 184
Scots, Irish so called by
Claudian, 23 ; see also
"Highland"
Scottish race, i.e., the Irish,
164, 187 ; the Irish suffer
from the ambiguity of the
word "Scottish," 451
Scotia, Ireland so called till
the 15th century, 34 ; used
for Hibernia, 164 ; con-
founded with Great Britain,
106 ; Scotland called Lesser
Scotia, 34
Scots, absurd derivation of the
name, 45
Scotus Eiigena, 218, 248, 448
Scota, daughter of Pharaoh, 45
Scott, Sir Walter, 400
Script of Adamnan's, life of
Columcille compared with
that of the Book of Armagh,
184
Sculpture, Irish, 457
Seym n us of Chio, verses on
the Celts, 6,42
Sea, "the seven daughters of
the," 242
Seanchus, or Scnchus Mor,
character of, 88 283, 5S4 If. ;
588 ff
Seaclmall, St., 147-8
Seasons, good or bad, caused
bv good or bad rulers, 28
388
Sedulius of Liittich, 448
Sedulius, abbot of Kildarc
217-8
Sedulius, author of Carmen
Paschale, 107
Seefinn, 57
Segienus, abbot of Iona, 202
SenantiSjOr Senan.of Iniscathy
[Inis Cathaigh], 196, 213,
410
Sencha, the Nestor of the Red
Branch, 336, 589
Scnchan, Torpeist, poet, 263,
411
Servile tribes, the, 27, 29
Seventh century, the golden
age of Irish saga, 387
Shield, Dalian's poem on King
Aedh's, 410
Shannon, origin of the name,
447 ; a Roscommon poem
on, 448
Siadal, or Sedulius, 107
Sidh [shee] mounds, or fairy
palaces, 96, 100
Sidhe [Shee] the, 284 ; the
Fomorians, so called, 287 ;
friends of Cuchulain, 327
Sigerson, Dr., F.R.U.I., 106,
133, 147, 216, 409, 505, 596
Silken, Thomas, 493
Silius Italicus describes the
Celtic Boii, 18
Sjol [Sheeol] Carthaigh, 61
Siol nDalaigh, 64
Skene, 76, 371
Skriebentium, Irish monks at,
449
S 1 ane, Dagobert educated at,
220
Sliabh Echtge, poem on, 428
Sligo, history of, 623
" Slender-with-slender," rule
of, 482
Slieve Luachra, 47
Slieve Bladhma, or Bloom, 49
Slieve Cualgm, whence called,
49
Slieve Fuad, whence called,
49
Snakes, none in Ireland, 22, 45
Snedgus and Mac Riaghla,
voyage of, 403
Snow, fall of, described, 324
Socrates, his descent, 78
Sol in us, 238
" Son of 111 Council," the, 260
Spain, overrun by Celts, 5 ;
the Irish take refuge in, 553
Spanish stories translated into
Irish, 572
Spenser, 557 ; on the Irish
bards, 494 ff.
INDEX
653
Spiral, the, in Irish art, 454
Sru, 45
St. John's eve, 90-91
St. Gall, monastery of, 197, 485
St. Paul, in Carinthia monas-
tery of, 210
Stag laments for hind, 384
State, idea of the State absent
from the Irish, 252, 585
State papers, the, 474, 525,
567
Stapleton, Theobald, author,
571, 616
Steeds, Cuchulain's, 345, 350,
351
Stems, the four great Irish
genealogical, 59 ; Teutonic,
ditto, 59
Stern, Ludwig Christian, 536,
540
Stilicho, 35
Stone used in Irish buildings,
459
Stories, list of, in the Book of
Leinster, 278 ; number still
existing, 279 ; epitomised in
the older texts, 296 ff. ;
translated from foreign
languages, 572 ; see '"Saga"
Stokes, Professor G., 203, 214,
218, 222
Stokes, Dr.Whitley, on Seach-
nall's Hymn, 149 ; on St.
Brigit, 161 ; on the Sindbad
story, 199 ; on ogams, 113 ;
on the Feilire of Aonghus,
265, 413 ; on the mean-
ing of Dagda, 287 ; on
"rithim," 486 ; on the
Saltair na Rami, 414 ; his
Tripartite Life, 43, 154; Lives
of the Saints, 92 ; Dinn-
seanchus, 93
Stokes, „ Miss Margaret, Six
Months in the Appenines,
451 ; on Irish art, 455 ;
on Irish Romanesque, 460 ;
on the arrest of Irish
development, 463
Stowe MSS., the, 471
Strongbow, 212
"Strong-armed Wrestler,"the,
597
Strabo on the stature of the
Celts, 18; calls Ireland
Ierne, 21
Strachan, studies on the Irish
deponent, 265, 405
Strangers in Ireland, 219, 222
Stuarts, sentimental affection
for the, 594
Stuart, Charles Edward, 596
Suetonius, 149
"Sugar-loaf" mountain, the,
Suibhne's madness, saga, 403
Sullivan, Dr.W. K, 200, 399,512
Sun-worship, 455
Swift, Dean, ix, proposes to
exterminate the Irish lan-
guage, 621
Swords, have speech and
sensation, 291 ; sword " of
light, "391 ; make music, id. ;
juggled with, 337, 392
" Tabhal-loi%" or tablet-staff,
117
Tacitus on the Irish, 19, 21, 43
Tadhg Mac Daire, poet, 28 ;
see "Teig "
Taibhli Fileadh, 116
Taillefer, 337
Tain Bo Chuailgne, 7, no,
260 ; oldest copy of, 263 ;
the saga of, 319 ff. ; Dr.
Sullivan on its composition,
399 ; nearly an epic, 400
Tailltinn, fair of, 48
Talti, 48
TatnUlorg fileadh, 116
Tara, Feis of, 73, 126 ; cursed
by St. Ruadhan, 226 ff. ;
effect of this curse, 234 ; a
college at, 245 ; Conall
Cearnach spares, 352 ; Cuan
O'Lochain on, 447 ; how
built, 458 ff ; the Teach
Miodh-chuarta at, 127, 458
Teach Mior Miodh-chuarta,
127, 129, 458
Teagasg Riogh, 246 ff
Technique of the Irish poets,
406
Teffia or Longford, 206
Teig [or Tadg] Mac Daire,
poet, 515 ff., 564 ; death of,
517
Teig, son of Cian, saga of, 402
Teig used to designate an
Irishman, 594
Teinm laeghdha or tenmlaida.
84, 241
Telltown, miscalled, 4S
Temples, 55
Tennyson, 510
Tethra, 101
Teudor Mac Regin, 40
Teutoni, the, 10
Teutonic theogony, 13 ;
mythology, 78
Theogony, Old Gaelic, 50 ; few
names in common in Indo-
European, 14 n.
Theodosius, 35
Theft, spell for discovering
241
Thierry, 23
Thor, equated with Taranucus
by Rhys, 13
Three Sorrows of Story-tel-
ling, 279, 287
Thucydides, his descent, 78
Thurneysen, 97, 153, 241 ; on
Irish metric. 4H2 ti
Tibride Tirech, ancestor of the
old Ulster princes, 27
Tighearnmas, Fomorian cul-
ture king. 78, 87
Tighearnach, his date, 23 ; on
early Irish History, 24 ;
books used by him, 43 ;
educated at Clonmacnois,
206 ; silent about the curs-
ing of Tara, 227 ; on Finn
mac Cumhail, 380 ; his
annals, 580
Timagenes, 94
Tirechan, 134, 136, 149 ; ac-
count of his work, 151 ff.
Todd, Dr., 202 ; on the Wars
of the Gael and Gaill, 234 ;
on O'Mahony's Keating, 556
Topography of Ireland, 56 ft'.
Torna Eigeas, poet, 515
Tory Island, 282
Towers, 459; see "round
towers "
Translations from modern
languages into Irish, 572
Trench, Hon. Power, Arch-
bishop of Tuam, 620
Trias Thaumaturga, 153, 574
Tribal system, supported by
genealogy, 71
Trinity College, i.e., Dublin
University, xiii ; its attitude
towards Celtic studies, xiv,
xv ; its so-called Irish pro-
fessorship, xiv, 625 ; its
neglect to bridge the gap
between the different in-
habitants of Ireland, 308 ;
indignation of the native-
Irish at being excluded from
it, 561 ; founded, says Lom-
bard, "sumptibus indigena-
rum," 561 ; does not recover
Flood's bequest, 625
Trinity, Columcilk's hvmn
to the, 181
Tripartite life of St. Patrick,
107, 147, 149 ; described, 153
Tritenheim, John of, 107
Troitlilidhe, meaning of, 475
Tuatha De Danann, 47, 51,
52 ; their clruids, steeds
servants, etc., 524 ; the
names of their chief people,
52 ; believed by O'Donovan
and O'Curry to have been
real people, $t, ; no Irish
families descended from
them, 76, 503 ; their e,