Cornell University Library 
 PR 4699.F2C7 
 
 Congal, a poem in five books. 
 
 3 1924 013 457 282 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of this book is in 
 the Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924013457282 
 
C O.N G A L. 
 
CONGAL: 
 
 A POEM, 
 IN FIVE BOOKS. 
 
 BY SAMUEL FERGUSON 
 
 DUBLIN : 
 EDWAED PONSONBY, 
 
 GRAFTON-STREET. 
 
 LONDON: 
 BELL AND DALDY, YORK-ST. 
 
 CO VENT-GARDEN. 
 
 1873. 
 
"PR 
 
 x^ 
 
 DUBLIN 
 
 PETER ROE, PRINTER, 
 
 H ABBOT STREET. 
 
 7* 
 
TO 
 
 THBEE MUCH-PBIZED EEIENDS, 
 
 MARGARET STOKES, 
 
 WHITLEY STOKES, 
 
 FREDERICK WILLIAM BURTON, 
 
 I DEDICATE 
 THIS 'POEM. 
 
THE ARGUMENT. 
 
 Ambition, Angel; Terror, Strife and Death, 
 Each, here, its Booh in Congal's story hath. 
 
 Book I. King Congal, feast-ward bent, is turned aside. 
 
 Bard Ardan's arts of spleenful Song are tried. 1-21 
 
 „ II. The royal Feast. The unintended Slight. 
 
 Halt Kellach's Counsel; and the Aids for fight. 22-47 
 
 „ III. The - Rising-out of Erin's guardian Ghosts. 
 
 Conan's Resolve; and re-encouraged Hosts. 48-81 
 
 „ IV. King Domnal's Muster, ere the fight proceeds. 
 
 Mad Sweeny's flight; and Northern Conal's deeds. 82-119 
 
 „ V. The Shrew ; the Fool ; the final Overthrow. 
 
 What else remains, the verse, itself, will show. 120-148 
 
PEE FACE. 
 
 The leading incidents of this Poem are derived from the Irish 
 Bardic romance called Cath Muighe Rath, or " the Battle of 
 Moyra," with its introductory " Pre-Tale" of the Fleadh Duin- 
 net n-Gedh, or " Banquet of Dunangay." When these pieces were 
 first given to the public, through the patriotic labours of the 
 Irish Archaeological Society, in 1842, they made a strong and 
 lasting impression on my imagination. They seemed to possess, 
 in a remarkable degree, that largeness of purpose, unity, and 
 continuity of action which are the principal elements of Epic 
 Poetry, and solicited me irresistibly to the endeavour to render 
 them into some. compatible form of English verse. After some 
 time, however, I found the inherent repugnancies too obsti- 
 nate for reconcilement, and, with some regret, abandoned that 
 attempt. But the general tenor of the piece had so strongly 
 impressed itself that I could not wholly reject it from my 
 
viii Preface. 
 
 mind; and the result — long since accomplished — has been 
 this Poem, called " Congal," from the chief actor in it. 
 While growing out of the Irish original, it has taken, in so 
 many respects, an independent outline and structure, that it 
 could not with propriety be given the name of its prototype, 
 although the Battle of Moyra is the principal incident in both. 
 This explanation of the parentage of the piece will account 
 for some characteristics from which it has been found impos- 
 sible to dissociate the work, without a loss of congruity caus- 
 ing more injury than will probably be found to have arisen 
 from their retention. 
 
 As an historic event, the Battle of Moyra is known to 
 have taken place in a.d. 637, and is referred with reasonable 
 certainty to the Tuesday which fell on the 24th of June in 
 that year. I give my adhesion to the views of those who 
 regard it as the expiring effort of the Pagan and Bardic party 
 in Ireland, against the newly-consolidated power of Church 
 and Crown, alleging, for its casus belli, the obligations which 
 Domnal, the then monarch, had incurred to Congal, the dis- 
 appointed Sub-King of Ulster, as indicated in the Poem. 
 
 Along with the events entitled to be deemed historical, a 
 largely preponderating amount of romance, and of the super- 
 
Preface. ix 
 
 natural machinery of mediaeval Irish fiction, exists both in the 
 original and in this adaptation. Of the persons of the drama, 
 Congal himself; Sweeny, his intended brother-in-law; Domnal 
 his antagonist, and some of the warriors on that part; 
 Eochaid, King of the Scottish Dalriads, and Domnal Brec, his 
 son, are characters having ascertained places in authentic 
 history. Of the rest, some were probably real personages 
 whose names have been traditionally preserved : but the 
 greater number may reasonably be referred to the invention 
 of the Bards who composed the Irish original. 
 
OONGAL 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 THE Hosting here of Congal Claen. 'Twas loud-lark-carolling May 
 When Congal, as the lark elate, and radiant as the day, 
 Rode forth from steep Rath-Keltar gate : nor marvel that the King 
 Should share the solace of the skies, and gladness of the spring, 
 For from her high sun-harbouring bower the fortress gate above 
 The loveliest lady of the North looked down on him with love. 
 
 " Adieu, sweet heart ; a short adieu ; in seven days hence," he cried, 
 " Expect me at your portals back to claim my promised bride. 
 " My heart at last has full content : my love's acceptance heals 
 " All wounds of Fortune : what although Malodhar Macha steals, 
 " By Domnal's false arbitrament, my tributes and my land, 
 " Nor he nor sovereign Domnal's self can steal Lafinda's hand. 
 " Then forward, youths, for Dunangay ; this royal banquet sped 
 " That binds our truce, remains no more but straightway back, and 
 " wed." 
 
 On went the royal cavalcade, a goodly sight to see, 
 As westward, o'er the Land of Light, they swept the flowery lea ; 
 
 B 
 
2 Congal. [}■ 
 
 Each shining hoof of every steed upcasting high behind 
 The gay green turf in thymy tufts that scented all the wind, 
 While, crossing at the coursers' heads with intersecting bounds, 
 As swift as skimming swallows played the joyous barking hounds. 
 
 First of the fleet resplendent band, the hero Congal rode ; 5 
 
 Dark shone the mighty -chested steed his shapely thigh bestrode ; 
 Dark, too, at times, his own brow showed that all his lover's air 
 But mantled with a passing light the gloom of inward care. 
 Beside him, on a bay-bright steed, in yellow garb arrayed, 
 Rode Sweeny, King of Dalaray, the brother of the maid ; 10 
 
 Attendant on his other hand, with eye that never ceased 
 Obsequious watch, came Garrad Gann, the envoy of the feast; 
 A troop of gallant youths behind : 'twas glorious to behold 
 The coursers' motions and the flow of graceful forms and gold. 
 
 So rode they, till, the flowery plain and bushy upland pass'd, 15 
 
 They came at noon where, o'er the woods, Ben-Borcha's barriers vast 
 Rose in mid-sky : here, where the road divided, at the bourne 
 That meared the country of the Lord of gloomy-mountain'd Mourne, 
 Kellach the Halt, the heroes met, in middle of the way, 
 The Master of the Schools of Mourne, the Arch-Bard Ardan ; they 20 
 Alighting made him reverence meet ; and Ardan from his car 
 Descending, kissed the King and said, 
 
 " Dear youths, ye welcome are 
 " To Kellach's country. Congal Claen, thine uncle's herald, I 
 
!■] Congal. 3 
 
 " In virtue of the Red-Branch bond, beseech thy courtesy 
 " This day to rest and feast with him." 
 
 " From knight to knight," replied 
 King Congal, "'tis a just request, and ill to be denied." 
 
 " Worse to be granted," Garrad said: " to Domnal reconciled, 5 
 
 " Behoves thee that thou rather shun one not the Church's child; 
 " And, for his bond of brotherhood, a like request was made 
 " Once, with small good to guest or host, when fraudful Barach stayed 
 " With fatal feasts the son of Roy, and from his plighted charge 
 " Detained him in Dunseverick hall, while Conor, left at large 10 
 
 " To deal as lust or hate might prompt with those who on the faith 
 " Of weak MacRoy's safe-conduct came, did Usnach's sons to death." 
 
 " Conor Mac Nessa," said the Bard, " when first he sent to spy 
 " Clan Usnach, where they sat at chess in Creeve-Roe's sanctuary, 
 " Chose for his messenger a nurse, who, straight returning, told 15 
 
 " The pious falsehood that the Queen was faded grown, and old : 
 " When, hot with wine, a second time the lustful tyrant sent 
 " To see if Deirdre's beauty still lived on her, his intent 
 " Being to break his guarantees, he for that errand base 
 " Chose, as the fittest man of all his minions there in place, 20 
 
 " A Northman herald ; and that spy brought back the wicked word 
 " Of Deirdre's beauty unimpaired, which hearing at his board, 
 " The King, despite his bard's rebuke, from doomed Emania's hall 
 "Went forth and did the sacrilege that wrought his kingdom's fall. 
 
4 Conga/. [i. 
 
 " Wherefore it seems to me this tale of Usnach's children now 
 
 " Sounds not well-timed to such as we, from such a one as thou, 
 
 " Oh Northman herald : but, oh King, I lay thee as before 
 
 " In knighthood's bonds, thou pass not by thy father's brother's door." 
 
 Said Congal : " If the son of Roy to this constraining tie 5 
 
 " Yielded, though charged with mighty cares, great hlame it were if I, 
 " Who, unlike Fergus, journey forth with neither charge nor care, 
 " Should shun my knightly kinsman's cheer with loyal mind to share." 
 
 And, climbing by the Poet's side, they took the left-hand road, 
 And through the gap of mountain sought the aged Chief's abode. 10 
 
 Far on the steep gap's further side, a rugged tract they found, 
 With barren breasts of murky hills and crags encompassed round : 
 A hollow sound of blustering winds was from the margin sent, 
 A river down the middle space with mighty tumult went ; 
 And still, as further on they fared, the torrent swifter flowed, 15 
 
 And mightier and murkier still the circling mountains showed ; 
 A dreadful desert as it seemed : till Congal was aware 
 Of divers goodly-visaged men and youths resorting there. 
 Some by the flood-side lonely walked ; and other some were seen 
 Who rapt apart in silent thought paced each his several green ; 20 
 
 And stretched in dell and dark ravine, were some that lay supine, 
 And some in posture prone that lay, and conn'd the written line. 
 Then to the King's enquiring gaze, where, mounted by his side, 
 He sat and eyed the silent throng, the grey Arch-Bard replied : 
 
I.J Congal. 5 
 
 " See in despite the Clerics' hate, where Kellach's care awards 
 " Rough though it be, a sanctuary to Erin's banished Bards. 
 " A life-time now is well-nigh spent since first our wandering feet, 
 " Compelled by that unjust decree enacted at Drumkeat, 
 " Left home and presidential seat by plenteous board and fire 5 
 
 " To sate the rage of impious Aed, ungrateful Domnal's sire. 
 " Twelve hundred men, with one consent, from Erin's utmost ends, 
 " We sought the hills where ruled the Bard's hereditary friends, 
 " Thy sheltering, song-preserving hills, Ultonia! cess nor dues 
 " Craved we ; but sat and touched our harps beside the Strand-End 10 
 
 " Yews. 
 " Of Ulster's Hound, the matchless Hound, pursuer swift and strong 
 " Of all the brutish herds of vice and monster-broods of wrong, 
 " Great, good Cuchullin, was our song ; and how,'when once before 
 " All Erin's churls from niggard board and culture-barring door, 15 
 
 " Impatient of life's needful charge of knowledge, had expelled 
 " Their Poet-teachers, and the Bards sat by the sea, and held 
 " Dire counsel ; either to turn back, and with avenging swords 
 " Regain their rights, or o'er the seas enrich rude Alba's lords 
 " With our lost lore, Cuchullin came, and ' Let it not be told,' 2 
 
 " Said he, ' that men of Erin e'er loved knowledge less than gold.' 
 " And bore them to Dun-Dealga back ; seven hundred Ollaves good 
 " And thrice seven hundred in their train ; where neither fire nor 
 " food 
 
6 Congal. [}• 
 
 " Failed them thenceforth for seven full years, until by just degrees 
 
 " The needs of knowledge drew them back to all their rectories. 
 
 "Whereby renown of song enures to Ulster, and the fame 
 
 " Of virtue as of valour still cleaves to Cuchullin's name. 
 
 " Hearing which lay, Malcova, son of Deman, standing by, 5 
 
 " Was moved with pity and desire to leave his memory 
 
 "Linked with Cuchullin's. Three full years Malcova spread our 
 
 " board 
 " There, by the Yewry. After him, from bounteous lord to lord 
 " Roamed we the sheltering Land of Song; and so, from year to year 10 
 '' Lived, spite of angry Domnal's hate, till generous Kellach here 
 " Assigned us, — small the remnant now of that illustrious band 
 " Who at Malcova's tables sat, — this tract of rugged land ; 
 " And ever in his own good fort, with hospitable care, 
 " For bard and pupil at our will provides us daily fare. 15 
 
 " Yes, though the Clerics' grasp on all our fruitful lands be set, 
 " The poet-peopled desert teems with inspiration yet : 
 " And here, despite their bells and books, still 'mid our wilds we 
 
 " teach 
 " The better Bardic utterance and sacred Poet-speech, 20 
 
 " Yet to be heard, some happier day, when 'mid the shock of spears 
 " The shout of Freedom shall be heard ; and blest be he who hears.'' 
 
 Said Congal, " Deem not that the Bards by any voice of ours 
 " Are of their lawful rights debarred ; or that the lawless powers 
 
ij Congal. 7 
 
 " The Clerks usurp were gained of me ; I love them not ; but now 
 " To royal Domnal reconciled, 'tis fitting that I bow 
 " With willing reverence to the laws." 
 
 Said Ardan, " Laws in Mourne 
 " Against the law of God decreed, we reverence not, but scorn." 5 
 
 " Fear not," said Congal ; " while I reign o'er Ulster, none shall dare 
 " Disturb the seats assigned you here by generous Kellach's care." 
 
 " We fear not for our seats, oh King : these rocks are not the soil 
 " That Clerics choose, when feeble chiefs divide the Church her spoil. 
 " Yet even 'mid these wind- whirling vales, these deserts dumb and 10 
 
 " dead, 
 " Their Saints invade us. Raise thine eyes to yonder mountain head 
 " That 'twixt us and the eastern sky uplifts its glittering cone: 
 " There, where thou seest the cairn at top, dwelt in his cave of stone 
 "Their hermit Domangart, ten years : the tempests from the sea 15 
 " On one side dashed him, and on one the wet west blanched him : he 
 " Daily, or from his driving cloud or mountain altar bare, 
 " Loosed 'gainst the nation's ancient gods his searching shafts of prayer ; 
 " And, daily, from the rocky crest of Bingian here, hard by, 
 " Alone like him, and raised like him, midway 'twixt earth and sky, 20 
 " The red Bard Irial, in reply, launched from his rival chair 
 " Athwart the empty fields of space, the deadlier poet's Aeir; 
 " Till, when the struggle had endured the tenth year, in his pride 
 " Of prayer and fasting, Domangart sank 'neath the Aeir and died. 
 
8 Congal. [}■ 
 
 " For God imparts the Bardic gift in triplicate degree, 
 
 " The power to charm, the power to blight, the power to prophesy ; 
 
 " But to the second grade but few, and to the last but one 
 
 " May in a generation rise ; and Aidan's mighty son 
 
 " Had to the second degree attained ; and with his song could rhyme 5 
 
 " Crops to decay, and men to death; as in the olden time 
 
 " Bard Neyid blotched his uncle Caier, and from both throne and bed 
 
 " Expelled him. ' Love me, Lord of Song,' incestuous Athna said. 
 
 " But Neyid would not. ' Love me, Lord of Connaught,' said the dame ; 
 
 " Then Neyid from his burning heart, fired with the double flame 10 
 
 " Of lust and of ambition, sped the baleful words of scorn 
 
 " That made the king a blemished man : he, wretch, at early morn, 
 
 " When to the healing fount he went, his fevered brow to lave, 
 
 " Beheld on either evilled cheek, reflected in the wave, 
 
 " The hideous boil incurable ; from sight of human eyes 15 
 
 " Abashed he fled, and one year's space in mendicant disguise 
 
 " Lurked in Dun-Kermna, with the son of Edersgol ; meantime 
 
 " Neyid enjoyed his Queen and crown ; but that enormous crime 
 
 " Passed not unpunished : when the year in guilty joy was spent, 
 
 " Mounted in Caier's own royal car the Queen and Poet went 20 
 
 " To claim their captive from the son of Edersgol ; and, bound 
 
 " To Neyid's belt, to aid their quest, brought Caier's favorite hound. 
 
 " Then, through his rags and scars, the King a moment stood revealed ; 
 
 " ' He sits within my seat,' he cried ; and snatched a warrior's shield; 
 
T.J Congal. 9 
 
 " But in the buckler's polished disk beholding once again 
 
 " His ruined visage, and the dire, disqualifying stain, 
 
 " Shame-struck, leaped headlong o'er the rocks that from the fortress- 
 
 " mound 
 " Stoop to the sea ; and, after him, dragged by the eager hound, 5 
 
 " Went Neyid o'er the slippery brink ; at whose despairing cry, 
 " As down the airy void he whirled, the chariot-steeds hard by 
 "Fled; and, cast forward where the reins entangling trailed the 
 
 " road, 
 " Her broken limbs for many a mile the rocks of Bearra strowed. 10 
 
 " Such power of old a Bard hath owned; and such tremendous power 
 " For evil or for good on thee depending, at this hour, 
 " Here, round us, these, the remnant left of those whom Aed's decree, 
 " Made at Drumkeat, expelled their chairs, reserve in trust for thee, 
 " Their only rightful Lord and King." 15 
 
 Said Congal : " Say not so ; 
 " Tis Domnal now to whom we all a one allegiance owe." 
 
 By this they reached the fort, and found the Chieftain Kellach 
 
 there : 
 Before the outer gate he sat, and took the fresher air : 
 A very aged senior he ; his hearing well-nigh gone, 
 Nor walked he longer on his feet, but sat a tolg upon : 
 A brazen-footed bench it was, whereon his serving train 
 Could bear him gently in and out. 
 
 20 
 
10 Congal. [i 
 
 " My love to Congal Claen," 
 He said. " Disabled of my limbs thou find'st me, nephew, still; 
 " But not yet crippled aught in heart or in the loyal will 
 " I bear my brother Scallan's son ; and much my heart is grieved 
 " At hearing of the shameful wrongs thou hast of late received 5 
 
 " At hands of this ungrateful King." 
 
 " Dear kinsman, grieve no more," 
 Congal returned ; " these wrongs are all forgotten, since we swore 
 " The oaths of peace ; for peace is made, and will be ratified 
 " By taking of the princess fair, Lafinda, for my bride; 10 
 
 "And, ere the nuptial knot be tied, on duty's urgent wing 
 " Even now to Dunangay I ride to banquet with the King." 
 
 Said Kellach ; " Small the good will spring from any banquet 
 " spread 
 " At Dunangay, where coward Kings, from spacious Tara fled, 15 
 
 " At threat of imprecating Clerks, crouch in their narrow den. 
 " But these are not the days of Kings, nor days of mighty men." 
 
 Said Garrad Gann ; " A servant here of Domnal : and I say 
 " No narrow house, oh aged Sire, is that of Dunangay. 
 " But when Saint Ruan, because the King, Brown Dermid, had 20 
 
 " profaned 
 " His sanctuary, and his ward, thence ravished, still detained 
 " At Tara contumaciously, denounced by book and bell 
 " His curse against the royal seat, — which righteous judgment well 
 
i.J Congal. 11 
 
 " Did Dermid merit; for he pressed his fugitive's pursuit 
 " With sacrilegious fury to the very altar foot 
 " Of Lorrah ; and, when Ruan himself stood in the narrow door 
 " That led to where his ward was hid beneath the chancel floor, 
 " And Dermid feared to pluck him thence, with pick and iron crow 5 
 " Did break the floor before his feet, and from the crypt below 
 " Dug out Aed Guara, — afterwards, no King at Tara dare 
 " Longer reside ; but each within his patrimonial share 
 " Ordained the royal seat elsewhere — as south Hy-Niall, who chose 
 " Loch-Leyne-Fort ; or as north Hy-Niall, Fort-Aileach ; and like those 10 
 " Did Domnal choose, when Erin's voice gave him the sovereign sway, 
 " By salmon-full abounding Boyne, the house of Dunangay. 
 " There, following royal Tara's plan, with dyke and mound he cast 
 " Seven mighty ramparts round about, to make the mansion fast ; 
 " And, after the same pattern, did build within the fort 15 
 
 " For him and for his household train, a timbered middle-court; 
 " Also for each Provincial King a fair assembly hall, 
 " A prison and a Poet's lodge, and, fairest work of all, 
 " A single-pillared chamber, like as Cormac, learned son 
 " Of Art, at desert Tara in former times had done. 20 
 
 " In which capacious mansion, thou and all thy Bards, old man, 
 " Could lodge, and no man's room be less: so answers Garrad Gann." 
 " Herald, I hear thy words but ill," said Kellach ; " but 'twere well 
 " For Erin, if Dermid Dun, that day he broke the Cleric's cell, 
 
12 Congal. [i. 
 
 " As justly by the law he might, his fugitive to win, 
 
 " Had, where he took Aed Guara out, put Ruan of Lorrah in. 
 
 " So should our laws have reverence meet; nor lawless Clerks 
 
 " exalt 
 " Their crooked staves above the wand of Justice, through the fault 5 
 " Of such as Dermid. But, oh youths, behold the open gates 
 " Where mountain fare on homely boards your courtesy awaits." 
 
 They entered : in the hall within abundant boards were spread, 
 Bard, Brehon, Smith, in order set, each at his table's head ; 
 But no Priest sat to bless the meat: now, when the feast was done, 10 
 Said Kellach, from his middle place, 
 
 " Oh, learned harmonious one, 
 " Who sittest o'er the Board of Bards of Erin, be our cheer 
 " Graced with such lay as Rury's sons will not disdain to hear.'' 
 
 Then at a sign from Ardan given, a Poet pale and grey I 5 
 
 Rose at the table of the Smith, and sang an antique lay. 
 
 Of Cical and his hunter-tribes the varied song began, 
 And how, in Grecian galleys borne, Mseonian Partholan, 
 Sire of great Slanga, on a day, with sight of sail and oar, 
 Amazed the dwellers of the woods by Inver Scena's shore, '■ i " 
 
 Where first Invasion first brought in our arts of life ; and how 
 Erin, untilled till then, from him received the spade and plough. 
 His three chief husbandmen, from whom all reckonings still begin 
 Of Erin's wealth, were Dig and Delve and Gather-Increase-In. 
 
I ] Congal. 13 
 
 His leader-oxen, first and best that Erin ever saw 
 
 Yoked to the work of livelihood, were sturdy Drive and Draw. 
 
 His two chief sages, Ask and Tell. His merchants, Take and 
 
 Give, 
 By whose plain precepts, first and last, must Erin learn to live. 
 But Todga was a comely page, and Dalgnaid warm and frail, 
 And Inis-Saimer's sorrows next engaged the devious tale. 
 Next, how great Slanga, for himself and princely brethren three, 
 Did first in four partition forth the Isle of Destiny. 
 Then sang he how the sudden pest with half the fair and brave 
 Of Erin filled Ben Edar's cairns and Tamlaght's nation-grave. 
 Forgotten Partholan himself, lies 'neath his royal mound 
 On green Moynalty, hushed at eve by drowsy ocean's sound, 
 And clangorous song of flocks, by night, when through the 
 
 wintry air 
 The wide- winged wild geese to their pools by Liff ey side repair : 
 But promised Slanga, tombed aloft on that great mountain's head, 
 Which now, since Domangart hath used the chamber of the dead 
 For Cleric rites, no longer owns its name of old renown, 
 Slieve-Slanga, but Slieve-Donard sounds, awaits his calling-down; 
 At whose return, when time has brought Fate's pre-appointed hour, 
 Long, long withheld, return the days of Ulster's pride and power. 
 " And many a day," the poet said, " I 've raised to Slanga's cairn 
 " These eyes of mine, with longing gaze, expecting to discern 
 
14 Congal. [i. 
 
 " Sign of his coming ; and methought, as I this very day 
 
 " Lay high on Bingian's side, and watched the piled stones stern and 
 
 " grey, 
 " They seemed to stir: a sudden light o'er all the landscape spread, 
 " A. joyous sound of song burst forth around and overhead ; 5 
 
 " The wasteful void of air between, that in a lifeless trance 
 " Lay wrapped but now, seemed sudden filled with voice and utterance ; 
 " Strong in me rose desire of song; a thousand thoughts and tones 
 " Melodious thrilled me ; still I gazed ; and still the sullen stones 
 " Ope'd not ; but even as I gazed, I saw the sunshine flame 10 
 
 " On Congal's crest, and knew in him our promised Slanga came." 
 He sat ; and smiles and plaudits marked the lay's appropriate close : 
 Then at the Brehon's senior board another bard arose. 
 
 Of Herdsman Borcha was his song : how he, in ancient days, 
 Used sit on craggy Bingian's top to view his bestial graze ; 15 
 
 Till from his herding-seat disturbed, when to that craggy steep 
 Came Goban with his mason train to build a treasure-keep 
 For mighty Finn. In living layers the jointed rampart rose 
 A spear's length thick; but when the wall should now well-nigh 
 
 enclose 20 
 
 The central summit, Borcha came, by night, and with his staff 
 Scattered the one half of the work ; but left the other half 
 Entire, that like a bristling crest on warrior's helmet set, 
 Looks toward Orgallia and the west with front defiant yet. 
 
I-J Congal. 15 
 
 " In shade whereof," the poet said, " as from the sultry beam 
 
 " Of May-day noon, withdrawn I lay, I slept and dreamt a dream. 
 
 " Above me on his ancient seat, obscuring half the skies, 
 
 " I saw the giant Herdsman sit, his mist-grey meteor eyes 
 
 " Searching the north : ' Gigantic youth, what do'st thou there ?' I s 
 
 " cried. 
 " ' I keep the score of Ulster's kine,' the great Neate-Herd replied. 
 " ' To keep the score of Ulster's kine, oh Borcha,' answered I, 
 " ' There needs not now, since Scallan's day, a herd-seat half so high.' 
 " He turned, and gazing south and west, where once the dun droves 10 
 
 " ranged 
 " Orgallia, saw the alien brands, and all his aspect changed. 
 " He rose in wrath, and called his dogs, and down the mountain 
 
 " strode, 
 " And, at his parting, with his staff such buffet he bestowed 15 
 
 " On Finn's rock-rampart that the earth rebounded at the stroke ; 
 " For, lo ! the bolt of heaven had fallen hard-by, and I awoke 
 " 'Mid rolling thunder and the smoke of shattered crags; but still 
 " Could hear his whistle and his call from distant hill to hill. 
 " And, as the Master-Poet's car," said he, " went by to-day, 20 
 
 " Bearing King Congal through the glen where rapt in thought 
 
 " I %, 
 " I looked and saw him once again, busy on Bingian's brow 
 " Reckoning his kine ; but west and south he turned his glances now, 
 
16 Congal [l- 
 
 " And smiled to find the tale complete, as, changing hand and hand, 
 " With fingers swift he told the score for each reconquered land." 
 
 He sat: and Congal also sat in silence and in gloom, 
 While plaudits fierce and unrestrained rose round the crowded room. 
 
 Third, Ardan sang. " To God who made the elements, I raise 5 
 " First praises humbly as is meet, and Him I lastly praise ; 
 " Who sea and land hath meted out beneath the ample sky 
 " For man's inhabitation, and set each family 
 " To dwell within his proper bounds; who for the race renowned 
 " Of Rury from old time prepared the fair Ultonian ground, 10 
 
 " Green-valley'd, clear-stream'd, fishy-bay'd, with mountain-mirroring 
 
 " lakes 
 " Belted, with deer-abounding woods and fox-frequented brakes 
 " Made apt for all brave exercise ; that, till the end of time, 
 " Each true Rudrician f air-hair 'd son might from his hills sublime 15 
 " Look forth and say, 'Lo, on the left, from where tumultuous Moyle 
 " ' Heaves at Benmore's foot- fettering rocks with ceaseless surging toil, 
 " ' And, half escaping from the clasp of that stark chain of stone, 
 " ' The soaring Foreland, poised aloft, as eagle newly flown, 
 " ' Hangs awful on the morning's brow, or rouses armed Cantyre, 
 " ' Red kindling 'neath the star of eve the Dalriad's warning fire ; 
 " ' South to the salt, sheep-fattening marsh and long-resounding bay 
 " ' Where young Cuchullin camped his last on dread Muirthevne's 
 " ' day ; 
 
 20 
 
l.] Congal. 17 
 
 " ' And southward still to where the weird De Danaan kings lie hid, 
 
 " ' High over Boyne, in cavern'd cairn and mountain pyramid ; 
 
 " ' And On the right hand from the rocks where Balor's bellowing 
 
 " ' caves 
 " ' Up through the funnelled sea-cliffs shoot forth the exploding waves, 5 
 " ' South to where lone Gweebarra laves the sifted sands that strow 
 " ' Dark Boylagh's banks; and southward still to where abruptEas-Roe 
 " ' In many a tawny heap and whirl, by glancing salmon track' t, 
 " ' Casts down to ocean's oozy gulfs the great sea-cataract, 
 " ' The land is ours ! — from earth to sea, from hell to heaven above, 10 
 " ' It and its increase, and the crown and dignity thereof !' 
 " Therefore to God, who gave the land into our hand, I sing 
 " First praises, as the law commands ; next, to my lawful King, 
 " Image of God, with voice and string I chaunt the loyal strain, 
 " Though well-nigh landless here to-day I see thee, Congal Claen ; 15 
 " Spoiled of Orgallia's green domain, of wide Tir-Owen's woods, 
 " Of high Tir-Conal's herdful hills and fishy-teeming floods ; 
 " Of all the warm vales, rich in goods of glebe-manuring men, 
 " That bask against the morning sun along the Royal Glen. 
 " These are no longer ours : the brood of Baedan's sons in these 20 
 
 " Shoot proudly forth their lawless barques, and sweep unhostaged 
 
 " seas 
 " Through all the swift- keel-clasping gulfs of ocean that enfold 
 " Deep-bay'd Moy Inneray and the shores of Dathi's land of gold. 
 
18 Congal [i. 
 
 " In law-defying conscious strength aloft in Dunamain 
 
 " Rude Ultan Long-hand owns no lord on Orior's pleasant plain; 
 
 " While o'er Ardsallagh's sacred height, and Creeve Roe's flowery 
 
 " meads, 
 " Malodhar Macha reigns alone in Emain of the steeds. 5 
 
 " But come ; resound the noble deeds and swell the chant of praise 
 " In memory of the men who did the deeds of other days ; 
 " The old bard-honoring, fearless days, exulting Ulster saw, 
 " When to great Rury's fair-haired race tall Scallan gave the law ; 
 " When, from Troy-Rury to Ardstraw was neither fort nor field, 10 
 
 " But yielded tribute to the king that bore the ell-broad shield. 
 " Hark ! what a shout Ben Evenagh pealed ! how flash from sea to 
 
 " shore 
 " The chariot sides, the shielded prows, bright blade and dripping oar ; 
 " How smoke their causeways to our tramp : beneath our oarsmen's toil 15 
 " How, round the Dalaradian prows, foam down the waves of Foyle ! 
 " Come forth, ye proud ones of Tir-Hugh, your eastern masters wait 
 " To take their tribute-rights anew at broad-stoned Aileach's gate ; 
 " A hundred steeds, a hundred foals, each foal beside its dam, 
 " A hundred pieces of fine gold, each broad as Scallan's palm, 20 
 
 " And thick as thumb-nail of a man of churlish birth who now 
 " The seventh successive seedtime holds a fallow-furrowing plough : 
 " Three hundred mantles ; thirty slaves, all females, young and fair, 
 " Each carrying her silver cup, each cup a poet's share 
 
i-J Congal. 19 
 
 " Who sings an ode inaugural Alas! I fondly rave: 
 
 " Dead, tribute-levying Scallan lies ; and dead in Scallan's grave 
 
 " Glory and might and prosperous days. The very heavens that 
 
 " pour'd 
 " Abundance on our fields and streams, while that victorious lord 5 
 
 " Of righteous judgments ruled the land ; the stars that, as they ranged 
 " The bounteous heavens, shed health and wealth, above our heads 
 
 " are changed. 
 " Nor marvel that the sickening skies are altered o'er our heads, 
 " Nor that from heaven's distempered heights malign contagion 10 
 
 "spreads: 
 " For all the life of every growth that springs beneath the sun 
 " Back to the air returns when once its turn of life is done: 
 " To it all sighs ascend; to it, on chariot-wheels of fire, 
 " All imprecations from the lips of injured men aspire ; 15 
 
 " And when that lofty lodge of life and growth-store of the world 
 " Is choked with groans from burthened hearts and maledictions hurled 
 " In clamorous flight of accents winged with deadlier strength of song 
 " From livid lips of desperate men who bear enormous wrong, 
 " Heaven cannot hold it; but the curse outbursting from on high 20 
 
 "In blight and plague, on plant and man, blasts all beneath the sky. 
 "Burst, blackening clouds that hang aloof o'er perjured Domnal's 
 
 " halls ! 
 " Dash down, with all your flaming bolts, the fraud-cemented walls, 
 
20 Congal [}■ 
 
 " Till through your thunder-riven palls heaven's light anew be pour VI 
 " In Law and Justice, Wealth and Song, on Congal's throne restored !" 
 
 Look how the culprit stands confused before the judge, while one, 
 Who, passing through the woods unseen, has seen the foul deed done, 
 Relates the manner of the fact ; tells how with treacherous blow 5 
 
 Struck from behind the murdered man sank on the pathway ; so 
 With flushing cheek, contracted brow, and restless, angry eye, 
 Sat Congal till the lay was closed : then with a mighty sigh 
 He breathed his heart ; and standing, spoke ; and, speaking, he unbent 
 The golden torque that clasped his neck, and by a butler sent 10 
 
 The splended guerdon to the Bard. 
 
 " For what thy lay doth sound 
 •• In praise of Rury's glorious race and Uladh's realm renowned, 
 " Take, Bard, this gift; but for so much of this untimely song 
 " As sounds in strife betwixt myself and sovereign Domnal, long 15 
 
 " And far from me, his foster-son, be that disastrous day 
 " Would break the peace we late have sworn : and therefore for 
 
 " thy lay 
 " I thank thee and I thank thee not." 
 
 Then round the tables ran 2n 
 
 Much murmuring through the Poet-throng : and thus spoke Garrad 
 Gann: 
 
 " The lay is easy that a Bard chaunts at his patron's board, 
 " With none in presence to repay lewd word with saucier word. 
 
I.J Congal. 21 
 
 " See how a boy who spends his time playing alone at ball, 
 
 " Loitering, belike, from school, beside some lofty smooth-faced wall, 
 
 " Strikes softly that the ball may fall convenient to his blow, 
 
 ' ; And keeps his private game on foot with easy effort so. 
 
 " But, say, two pairs of players arrive, and join an earnest game ; 5 
 
 " Lo, all the easy- taken balls, that late high-curving came, 
 
 " Now struck by prompt rebutting hands fly past, shot in and out, 
 
 " Direct and rapid, hard to hit, missed once at every bout ; 
 
 " The players at stretch of every limb, like flickering bats that ply 
 
 " Their dumb quest on a summer's eve, to balk each other, fly 10 
 
 " Hither and thither ; all their chests heave; and on every brow 
 
 " The sweat-drops glisten. So, me seems, oh King, this minstrel now, 
 
 " Much like a Cleric in his desk, having none to strive withal, 
 
 " His game being wholly with himself, keeps up the easy ball 
 
 " Of safe disloyalty: but, let this song of his be heard 15 
 
 " By Domnal's Bards, in Domnal's hall, and take a true man's word 
 
 " Our angry Master here should give his day of harvest- work 
 
 " Ere from the field of fair debate he 'd bear his golden torque." 
 
 " Enough," said Kellach. " Now to rest: and with the earliest ray 
 " Of dawn, my kinsman-king is free to journey on his way." 20 
 
CONGAL. 
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 At early blush of morn, the King of Ulster and his train 
 Assumed their southern Meath-ward route through craggy Mourne 
 again. 
 
 Herd Borcha's peaks behind them left, by Narrow- Water side 
 They rode, and by the Yews that shade Kin-Troya's refluent tide. 5 
 
 Thence, lifted lightly on their steeds, up through the desert lone, 
 Where gloomy Gullion overlooks his realm of quag and stone, 
 Passed Brigid's cell; and, issuing forth high o'er Muirthevne's plain, 
 Where Fochard takes the morning sun, passed Brigid's cell again. 
 
 " Go where you will, their Saints intrude," said Congal. 10 
 
 "Nay, 'twas here," 
 Sweeny returned, " Lafinda, she to both of us so dear, 
 " In all her maid-beseeming arts was nurtured in her youth 
 " By Brigid's maids, and learned from them the lore of Heavenly truth." 
 
 " And for so dear a pupil's sake," said Congal, " shall their schools 15 
 " Have favor; and a warrior's arm protect the pious fools." 
 
n.] Congal 23 
 
 Thence by Dun-Dealga's belted mound, safe in whose triple wards 
 Cuchullin in the days of old caroused his banished Bards, 
 Abashed in awe the warriors rode : nor drew they bridle-rein 
 Till on the woodland height they reached the sacred walls of Slane ; 
 And from the verdant Hill of Health, outspread at large beneath d 
 
 On all sides to the bounding sky, beheld illustrious Meath, 
 Cattle and crop, and homes of men, commingling gold and green 
 Refulgent in the noontide ray, and sparkling Boyne between. 
 
 As down the hill the warriors rode, to reach the level fords, 
 A woman met them by the way. She said — K 
 
 " Oh, gentle lords, 
 " Be witness of the shameful wrong the King's purveyors here 
 " Have done against our hermit, Ere; he, holy man austere, 
 " Eats not of flesh nor viand else that breath of life informs; 
 " But when the winter season comes, amid the northern storms 15 
 
 " The wild-geese visit him; and here, around his guardian cell, 
 " In safety leave their silly nests and store of eggs as well: 
 " And all our hermit's hoarded store these proud purveyors now 
 "Have taken for the King's repast: be witness, warrior, thou." 
 
 " Good woman,'' said the courteous King, " this wrong of thine 2 ° 
 " transcends 
 " My power to help: myself a guest, can make thee no amends." 
 
 And onward passed to reach the fords ; here by the rushing flood 
 The aged, angry Ere himself in middle causeway stood. 
 
24 Congal [n. 
 
 His head was bare, his brow was black, his lips with rage were 
 
 wan; 
 As stone-crop on a storm-bleached rock stood on the rugged man 
 The hard grey beard, and with a voice as winter shrill and strong 
 He cried, 5 
 
 " Oh, hear my prayer; oh God ! avenge thy servant's wrong. 
 " Twice twenty years in pinching fast and wasting vigil here 
 " I've served thine altar: let my prayer now reach thy favoring ear: 
 " Cursed be the hands that robbed my store, accursed the board that 
 
 " bears, 10 
 
 " The roof that shelters the repast, the bidden guest that shares.'' 
 
 And raised, to ring, his altar bell ; but with his riding-wand 
 King Congal struck the empty brass from Erc's uplifted hand ; 
 And said, 
 
 " For shame, old wicked man; this impotence of rage in 
 
 " An angry woman would demean ; and ill beseems a sage." 
 
 And pushed him from his path aside, and went upon his way, 
 Regardless, through the flashing fords and up to Dunangay. 
 
 Up to the royal gates from all the fords of Boyne that morn 
 Was concourse great of bidden guest on car and courser borne. 2u 
 
 And many a chief, as Congal rode the crowded ranks between, 
 Would check his steeds and pause to mark the hero's noble mien. 
 Within the courtyard of the fort, and at the open gate 
 That to the spacious wine-hall led. did Domnal's self await 
 
"•] Congal. 25 
 
 The festive throngs ; and, when the troop of Congal Claen drew near, 
 Advanced before the threshold-step, and with such gracious cheer 
 As father might returning son, received him ; kiss'd his cheek, 
 And said, 
 
 " Dear Congal, of thy love the boon I first bespeak 6 
 " Is this ; that, as my foster-son, on this auspicious day, 
 " Which reunites affection's bonds no more to part, I pray 
 " Thou wilt, in token to the world of mutual love restored, 
 " Upon my left hand, next my heart, sit at the banquet board." 
 
 Said Congal, " Royal Sire, although the law of seats be thus, 10 
 
 " That when the monarch boasts, as thou, the race illustrious 
 "Of North Hy-Niall, the privilege of Ulster in that case 
 " Is next the king, on his right hand, at banquet to have place ; 
 " Yet be it as thy love would prompt." 
 
 Then by a royal groom I 5 
 
 The Ulster guests were to their baths brought in an inner room ; 
 And so remained until a steward announced the banquet spread, 
 And led them to the wine-hall ; there, at Domnal's table-head, 
 On left hand of the royal seat, was Congal's place assigned, 
 Young Dalaradian Sweeny's next, and Garrad Gann behind. 20 
 
 Great was the concourse ; all the seats were full, save two alone, 
 The Monarch's, and the vacant chair to rightward of the throne. 
 Expecting who should enter next, was heard a herald's call, 
 " The King of Emain Macha here f and straightway up the hall 
 
26 Congal. ["• 
 
 Came proud Malodhar ; round him gazed with calm audacious air, 
 
 And sitting, as of right, assumed the right hand vacant chair, 
 
 The Red-Branch banner from the beam depending o'er his head. 
 
 Then Sweeny to King Congal's ear approached his lips and said 
 
 " It bodes no good, oh Congal, that thine ancient rightful place 5 
 
 " This upstart of Ardmacha here obtains before thy face." 
 
 " Hush, Sweeny," answered Garrad Gann ; " 'tis Domnal's love 
 " alone 
 " That places Congal on his left, to heart- ward of the throne." 
 
 Ere more was said, the herald's voice again rose loud and clear, 10 
 And all the hall rose with the words — " The King of Erin here !" 
 And Domnal from his room came forth : his herald with him came, 
 Proclaiming, 
 
 " Erin's Domnal here ; the one son dear to fame 
 " Of Aed, the son of Ainmiry ; which Ainmiry for sire 15 
 
 " Had Setna, son of Fergus: he, his race if ye require, 
 " Was son of Conal Gulban, son of Niall the Hostage-famed, 
 " (Nine Kings he held in hostage, and hence was he surnamed) ; 
 " And up from Niall Nine-Hostager we know we may ascend 
 " From King to King to Adam, up to the very end. 
 " But Adam is the primal root of every spreading tree 
 "And branch-abounding underwood of genealogy ; 
 " In whom all increase of mankind, of every tribe and name 
 " That has been since the earth received her elemental frame, 
 
 20 
 
n.] Congal. 27 
 
 " And shall be henceforth, till on all the final doom be passed 
 " Of the Redeeming Judge's word, do meet and mix at last. 
 " Sprung from which great progenitors is Domnal, for whose sake 
 " Beseech you all with joyous hearts these viands to partake." 
 
 The herald ceased, and Domnal, still upstanding by his chair, 5 
 
 Motioned to Bishop Ronan Finn to give the blessing-prayer. 
 The blessing given, King Domnal sat ; and, smiling courteous, spoke, 
 " My love to all, both King and Prince ; high Chiefs and humble folk 
 '• Of Erin, welcome ! now to all, ye noble butlers, bring 
 " The Egg of Appetite, and place for each Provincial King 10 
 
 " An Egg of Honor, that our feast — all things being duly done, 
 " From egg to apple — happily be ended as begun." 
 
 With ready speed the serving men the King's behests obeyed, 
 And wild-goose eggs before the Kings on silver dishes laid, 
 Save only before Congal Claen : by fate, or by mischance, 15 
 
 Or cook's default, or butler's haste, or steward's ignorance, 
 Through transposition of his seat not rightly understood, 
 The egg of many ills for him was served on dish of wood. 
 Which, when the men of Ulster saw, they did not deem it meet 
 That sons of Rury at that board should longer sit or eat ; 20 
 
 And Dalaradian Sweeny said, " Thou eatest of thy shame, 
 " Meat sent thee on a platter from a King who hates thy name ! 
 " Methought no lord of Oriall, with Kinel-Owen to boot, 
 " And Kinel-Conal at his back, should sit without dispute 
 
28 Congal. [»• 
 
 " In Congal's place at banquet. I end as I began: 
 '• Thou eatest thy dishonor." 
 
 Again said Garrad Gann : 
 " Hush ! 'twas the cook's or steward's default : mar not the feast's 
 
 " repose." 5 
 
 But Congal said, " Be silent, dog !" and from the table rose. 
 
 Ah ! me, what mighty ills we see from small beginnings rise ! 
 Look how a spark consumes the wood a palace-roof supplies. 
 How smallest sounds call greatest forth ; as when a singer draws 
 A long clear-warbled note to end, the theatre's applause 10 
 
 Follows tempestuous ; and again the artist must begin 
 With nice throat-fingering dexterous his thread of sound to spin 
 Finer and finer ; then the crowd enraptured more and more 
 Thunder back plaudits, and the roof re-echoes to the roar. 
 Or as a pilgrim, lone and poor, without a guide who goes 15 
 
 Through an Alp's gap, where hang aloof the silence-balanced snows, 
 Deeming himself alone with God, will break the aerial poise 
 With quavering hymn ; the shaken bulks sliding with dreadful 
 
 noise 
 Sheer from their rock-shelved slippery lofts, descend in ruinous 20 
 
 sweep, 
 And spill their loud ice-cataracts down all the rattling steep. 
 The horrid rumble heard remote by shepherd on his lawn, 
 He looks, and from the naked peak sees that the snows are gone ; 
 
n-J Congal 29 
 
 Then sighs, and says, " Perchance but now 'twas some poor traveller's 
 
 "hap 
 " To journey in the pass beneath." He meanwhile, in his gap, 
 Lies lifeless underneath his load of ruin heavy and bare, 
 And awful silence once again possesses all the air. 5 
 
 And as the heaping-up of snows in mountain sides apart 
 By winds of many wintry years, so heaped in Congal's heart 
 Wrong lay on wrong ; and now at last in wrath's resistless flood 
 The long-pent mischief burst its bounds. Up at the board he stood 
 And spurned the table with his foot, and from his shoulders drew 10 
 The festal robe, and at his feet the robe and viands threw. 
 Rose also eager Garrad Gann. " Oh, King, I pray thee sit, 
 " And thou shalt have attendance due and honor as is fit." 
 But angry Congal, turning in the middle of the hall, 
 Dashed down Gann Garrad to the ground. Amazement seized on all, 15 
 And terror many. But he stood and spoke them : 
 
 " Have no fear; 
 " For grievous though my wrongs have been, I do not right them here. 
 " But here, before this company of Kings and noble Lords, 
 " I shall recount my wrongs, oh King ; and mark ye all my words. 20 
 " Thy royal predecessor, oh King, was Sweeny Menn; 
 " And him thou didst rebel against; and into Ulster then 
 " Came, seeking our allegiance, and leagued with us, and I 
 " Was given thee in fosterage to bind our amity; 
 
30 Congal. [n 
 
 "And with thee here was nurtured, till thou before the might 
 
 "Of Sweeny Menn, thy rightful King, wast forced to take thy flight 
 
 " To Alba's hospitable shore ; where generous Eochaid Buie, 
 
 " My mother's father, for her sake, and for his love of me, 
 
 " Did entertain thee and thy train till summers seven were flown, 5 
 
 " When I, a youthful warrior, and aged Sweeny grown 
 
 " No longer at the lance expert, nor on the whirling car, 
 
 " With bent bow able as of old to ride the ridge of war, — 
 
 "As when through Moin-an-Catha's pools, waist-deep in shameful 
 
 " mire, 10 
 
 " He chased thee on Ollarva's banks, — thou of my mother's sire 
 " Didst crave and didst obtain a barque, and with thy slender band 
 " Sett'st sail for Erin secretly; and where we first made land 
 " Was at Troy Rury : there we held a council ; and 'twas there, 
 " Standing on those brown-rippled sands, thou didst protest and 15 
 
 " swear, 
 " If I by any daring feat that warrior-laws allow 
 " Of force or stratagem, should slay King Sweeny Menu, and thou 
 " Thereby attain the sovereignty, thou straightway wouldst restore 
 " All that my royal forefathers were seized of theretofore. 20 
 
 " Relying on which promise to have my kingdom back, 
 " I left thee at Troy Rury ; nor turned I on my track 
 " Till I came to broad-stoned Aileach. There, on the sunny sward 
 " Before the fort, sat Sweeny Menn, amid his royal guard, 
 
n.] Congal. 31 
 
 " He and his nobles chess-playing. Right through the middle band 
 
 "I went, and no man's license asked, Garr-Congail in my hand, 
 
 " And out through Sweeny's body, where he sat against the wall, 
 
 " 'Twas I that sent Garr-Congail in presence of them all. 
 
 " And out through Sweeny's body till the stone gave back the blow, 5 
 
 " 'Twas I that day at Aileach made keen Garr-Congail go. 
 
 " But they, conceiving from my cry — for, ere their bounds I broke, 
 
 " I gave the warning warrior-shout that justified the stroke 
 
 " By warrior-law — that Eochaid Buie and Alba's host had come, 
 
 " Fled to their fortress, and I sped safe and triumphant home. 10 
 
 " Then thou becamest Sovereign ; and, Scallan Broad-Shield dead, 
 
 " I claimed thy promise to be made King in my father's stead ; 
 
 " Not o'er the fragment of my rights regained by him, alone, 
 
 " But o'er the whole Rudrician realm, as erst its bounds were known, 
 
 " Ere Fergus Fogha sank before the Collas' robber sword ; 15 
 
 " That thou had'st promised ; and to that I claimed to be restored. 
 
 " But thou kept'st not thy promise ; but in this did'st break the same, 
 
 " That thou yielded'st not Tir-Conal nor Tir-Owen to my claim; 
 
 " And the nine cantreds of Oriall to Malodhar Macha, he 
 
 " Who now sits at thy shoulder, thou gavest, and not to me. 20 
 
 " And him to-day thou givest my royal place and seat, 
 
 " And viands on a silver dish thou givest him to eat, 
 
 " And me, upon a wooden dish, mean food which I disdain : 
 
 " Wherefore upon this quarrel, oh King," said Congal Claen, 
 
32 Congal. [n. 
 
 " I here denounce thee battle." 
 
 Therewith he left the hall, 
 And with him, in tumultuous wise, went Ulster one and all, 
 And leaped in haste upon their steeds, and northward rode amain, 
 Till 'twixt them and the men of Meath they left the fords of Slane. a 
 
 That morn, on thirsty Bregia's breast abundant heaven had poured 
 Much rain, and now with risen Boyne red ran the flooded ford. 
 There, still beside the slippery brink, indenting all the ground 
 With restless stampings to and fro, the angry Ere they found. 
 
 " Ah, wretch," cried Sweeny, " stand aside : avoid thy victim's way : 10 
 " Thine eggs have hatched us ills enough for one disastrous day." 
 
 " I thank thee, God," cried aged Ere, "that through the wastes of air 
 " My voice has reached thy throne, and thou hast heard thy servant's 
 " prayer." 
 
 " Go thank the fiend thou call'st thy God, where only fiends abide," 15 
 Cried Sweeny ; and with furious hand dashed aged Ere aside : 
 The tottering senior stumbled back, and from the slippery verge 
 Boyne caught him in an onward whirl ; thence through the battling 
 
 surge 
 Below the fords, as 'neath the feet of vigorous youths at play 20 
 
 A rolling football, Ere was rolled, engulfed, and swept away. 
 
 While yet from tawny whirl to whirl, the warriors marked him 
 cast, 
 His right hand, as in act to curse, uplifted to the last, 
 
"•J Congal. 33 
 
 Adown the hill they late had left, in swift pursuit appeared 
 
 The royal chariot, and therein, with white conspicuous beard, 
 
 The Household bishop, Ronan Finn : while yet in middle tide 
 
 The coursers plunged before the car, " Son Congal, stay," he cried. 
 
 " King Domnal prays thee to forgive the grievance undesigned £ 
 
 " His herald's and his steward's default have caused thy manly mind. 
 
 " Love in excess it was did prompt the placing of thy chair 
 
 " At Domnal's left ; and, on his right, had not Malodhar there 
 
 " Sat uninvited, Domnal's love did further still design 
 
 " That Ulster's vacant seat should stand a symbol and a sign lc 
 
 " Of double honour done thee, both as Foster-son and King : 
 
 " Wherefore I come, by Domnal sent, his pardon back to bring." 
 
 " Cleric," said Congal, " tell the King, and let all Erin hear, 
 " I credit not the weak excuse invented by his fear." 
 
 Then Ronan showed his bishop's staff and bell ; and said, "Be these 15 
 " For truth of all that I avouch, thy certain guarantees." 
 
 " Thou hast thine answer," Congal said. 
 
 Said Ronan Finn, " Beware ; 
 "' Contempt of these may wake the wrath God's priests by these 
 " declare." 20 
 
 Said Congal, " Rather have a care, thou ; lest by staff or bell 
 " Thou earn such fate as even now thy brother Ere befell ; 
 " Lo, where for curses so denounced with like assumption, he 
 " Rewarded by a bath in Boyne, floats swiftly to the sea." 
 
34 Congal. [n. 
 
 Then Ronan, knowing that 'twas Ere whose body down the flood 
 "Went seaward, raised his voice and said, "This murder, men of 
 
 " blood, 
 " Shall God in battle's dreadful hour upon the murderer's head 
 " In dire unheard-of wise requite," and turned his steeds and fled. 5 
 
 While yet the Ultonians stood, to -watch if Ronan still should dare, 
 When out of reach of missiles, stand, to make the menaced prayer, 
 Prepared to follow and make good what Congal's words implied 
 Another goodly cavalcade advancing they descried. 
 
 Then said the King, '"Twas well, oh youths, that here we made 10 
 " our halt, 
 " Else haply had Ultonia's name been tarnished through my fault, 
 " Who have left a hall of banqueting, where Poets were in place 
 " Without bestowing goblets : now they come in shameful chase 
 "To upbraid me for a niggard." 15 
 
 The Poets then drew nigh, 
 And after noble gifts received, disclosed their embassy. 
 But Congal bade them tell the King that, fight alone except, 
 His wrong admitted no amends ; and much the Poets wept 
 As leaving them with kind farewells, upon their northern way 2C 
 
 The angry Ulster warriors went. 
 
 By early noon next day 
 They stood again at Kellach's gates. While yet a javelin flight 
 From where the senior sat, he reached both hands with stern delight 
 
"■] Congal 35 
 
 To clasp the hand of Congal Claen. " Thank God," he cried, " mine 
 
 " eyes 
 " Have seen my brother Scallan's son at last in such a guise 
 " As fits a right Rudrician King; with back to Slavery's door 
 " And face to Fortune : come, sit near ; recount me o'er and o'er 5 
 
 " The knave's insidious overtures : for well I know his wiles, 
 "And well I guessed his feast was dressed with snare-disguising 
 " smiles.' 1 
 
 Then Congal on the brazen bench sat, and in Kellach's ear 
 Disclosed his grounds of wrath at large in accents loud and clear. 10 
 
 As Congal's tale proceeded from injurious word to word, 
 Old Kellach underneath his gown kept handling with his sword, 
 His sword which none suspected that the bed-rid senior wore, 
 But which displaying from its sheath, now when the tale was o'er, 
 He held it up, and, " Take," said he, " a warrior's word in pledge, 15 
 " If thou take other recompense than reckoning at sword-edge 
 " For these affronts, this sword of mine which, many a time before 
 " I've sheathed in valiant breasts, shall find a bloody sheath once more 
 " Here in this breast : for life for me has long while lost its grace, 
 " By palsied limbs debarred the joy of combat and of chase, 20 
 
 " And all my later years I've lived for that great day which now 
 " Seems surely coming : for full cause and warrant good hast thou 
 " For war with Domnal. Far less cause had Broad-Shield when he slew 
 "Cuan of Clech, and set his head on the wall-top to view, 
 
36 Conga!. [n. 
 
 " For calling him ' Shrunk Scallan ' : less cause than this by far, 
 " Though Mordred's Queen had slapped the cheek of British Gwynevar, 
 " Had Arthur when he fought Camlan ; from which pernicious fray 
 " Where joined thrice twenty thousand men, but three men came away. 
 " What cause had Pictish Gwendolen, compared with this of ours, 5 
 
 " When, for his broken apple-branch, he summoned all the powers 
 " Of Caledonia, dale and fell, and, on Arderidd's height, 
 " Made theme perpetual for the Bards in Merlin Wilt's affright, 
 " Who lost his reason in that fight, and ever after ran 
 " Wild in the woods, a sacred seer, and vision-gifted man? 10 
 
 " What ! and the great breach of Goddeu, was it not also fought 
 " In recompense of an affront contemptible, if brought 
 " Into comparison with thine? Yet there, of Britain's best 
 " Fell full ten thousand, in amends of one poor field-fare's nest. 
 " No ! warrant good for war thou hast, and cause of strife to spare, 15 
 " And kindly-well beseems us all thine enterprise to share. 
 " Go, summon me my seven good sons ; my young men brave and strong 
 " Shall with their royal kinsman in this Hosting go along. 
 €' And if my limbs would bear me, as they bore me like the wind, 
 " When once I fought by Scallan's side, I would not stay behind. 20 
 
 " Nor will I, far as men are found to bear me in the front, 
 " Decline the face of battle yet, when comes the final brunt. 
 •• But for so great a strife as this, dear nephew, thou 'It have need 
 "Of other friends and councillors, and other aids indeed. 
 
"■] Covgal. 37 
 
 " So get thee hence to Alba ; to thy grandsire Eochaid Buie: 
 
 " Thy mother was his daughter ; and thy mother's mother, she 
 
 " Was daughter, one and well-beloved, of other Eochaid, king 
 
 " Of Britain. Claim the help of each, and here to Erin bring 
 
 " Such aids as they will grant to thee ; meantime 'twill be my care 5 
 
 " Our own fraternal warrior tribes for combat to prepare." 
 
 This counsel to the King seemed good ; but, ere he sought the aid 
 Of Alban Eochaid, he devised to speak the royal maid. 
 
 As through the desert of the Bards, at coming close of day, 
 On this design intent, the King of Ulster took his way ; 10 ' 
 
 Where fell the shadows vast, and grey from crag and spike of stone 
 The curling mists began to rise, tidings before him flown 
 Of war denounced, had filled the waste with battle-glorying songs, 
 And through the dusky glens the Bards, in loud exulting throngs, 
 On each side ran, with augury of conquest and renown 15 
 
 Crowning their champion; and when now untimely night came down, 
 With blazing links they lit the way ; when lo, a rushing sound, 
 As of immeasurable herds a-droving all around, 
 Was heard, and presently was heard to fill the mountain hall. 
 With hollow clamour far and wide, a whistle and a call. 20 
 
 " Borcha," cried Congal, " if 'tis thou art Drover of the night, 
 "Be patient: thou shalt have again, ere long, the oversight 
 " Of all thy herds." A sound as though the mountain's shingly side 
 Shook down a sheet of rattling stone, through night's expanse replied. 
 
38 Congal. ["• 
 
 " He climbs his Herd-seat as of old," cried Ardan ; " Oh ye 
 " Powers 
 " Unseen that round us live and move, grant, in this strife of ours, 
 " Your favour to the Poets' cause ! Like us apart ye dwell 
 " In woods and wilds ; like us, they say, from happier state ye fell." — 5 
 
 Exclaimed King Congal, " Tis not well ! While ground beneath 
 " me stands, 
 " Succour or counsel will not I at any demon's hands. 
 " But whether victor, as I hope, or whether overthrown, 
 " I in this contest live or die in manly arms alone." 10 
 
 The red round moon o'er Slanga's cairn ascending soon dispelled 
 The darkness, and by moon and stars attended, Congal held 
 His course to Sweeny's friendly fort ; a sleepless while he stayed 
 In Sweeny's halls ; then journeyed on to speak the royal maid. 
 
 The Princess with her women-train without the fort he found, 15 
 Beside a limpid running stream, upon the primrose ground, 
 In two ranks seated opposite, with soft alternate stroke 
 Of bare, white, counter-thrusting feet, fulling a splendid cloak 
 Fresh from the loom : incessant rolled athwart the fluted board 
 The thick web fretted, while two maids, with arms uplifted, poured 20 
 Pure water on it diligently ; and to their moving feet 
 In answering verse they sang a chaunt of cadence clear and sweet. 
 Princess Lafinda stood beside ; her feet in dainty shoes 
 Laced softly ; and her graceful limbs in robes of radiant hues 
 
"•] Congal. 39 
 
 Clad delicately, keeping the time : on boss of rushes made 
 
 Old nurse Levarcam near them sat, beneath the hawthorn shade. 
 
 A grave experienced woman she, of reverend years, to whom 
 
 Well known were both the ends of life, the cradle and the tomb ; 
 
 Whose withered hands had often smoothed the wounded warrior's 5 
 
 bed ; 
 Bathed many new-born babes, and closed the eyes of many dead. 
 The merry maidens when they spied the warlike king in view, 
 Beneath their robes in modest haste their gleaming feet withdrew, 
 And laughing all surceased their task. Lafinda blushing stood 10 
 
 Elate with conscious joy to see so soon again renewed 
 A converse, ah, how sweet, compared with that of nurse or maid ! 
 But soon her joy met cruel check. 
 
 " Lafinda," Congal said, 
 And led her by the hand apart ; " this banquet of the King's 15 
 
 " Has had an ill result. His feast has been of fare which brings 
 " Hindrance to all festivity. Great insult has been shown 
 " Me by King Domnal ; such affront as has not yet been known 
 " By any other royal guest in Erin : therefore now 
 " I come not, as I thought to come, to ratify the vow 20 
 
 " We made at parting, I and thou : our bridal now must wait 
 " Till this wrong done be made aright : for I to Alba straight 
 " Am gone to ask my grandsire's aid, and thence returning go 
 " First and before all other calls in field to meet my foe. 
 
40 Con gal. [n. 
 
 " And, trust me, I shall not bestow such thoughts as fill my heart 
 " On any maid, and, least of all, on thee, dear maid, who art 
 " By birth and by thy bringing-up entitled best to claim 
 " Pleasure and peace within thy halls ; for I have nought but flame 
 " Of indignation and of wrath since this ill-omened feast, a 
 
 " Left, to bestow on any one ; and these on thee at least 
 " I wreak no further. Fair, farewell ; think of me while away, 
 " And trust with me, our nuptial rites shall not have long delay." 
 She answered, " For a maid like me, the daughter of a King, 
 " To grieve for nuptial rites deferred, were not a seemly thing. lo 
 
 " Yet, were I one of these, and loved, as humblest maiden can, 
 " And shame would suffer me to shew my tears to any man 
 " Shed for his sake, I well could weep. Oh, me ! what hearts ye own, 
 " Proud men, for trivialest contempt in thoughtless moment shown, 
 " For rash word from unguarded lips, for fancied scornful eye, 15 
 
 " That put your lives and hopes of them you love, in jeopardy. 
 " Yet deem not I, a Princess, sprung myself from warrior sires, 
 " Repine at aught in thy behoof that Honor's law requires. 
 " Nor ask I what affront, or how offended, neither where 
 " Blame first may lie. Judge thou of these : these are a warrior's care. 20 
 " Yet, oh, bethink thee, Congal, ere war kindles, of the ties 
 "Of nurture, friendship, fosterage; think of the woful sighs 
 " Of widows, of poor orphans' cries ; of all the pains and griefs 
 " That plague a people in the path of battle-wagering chiefs. 
 
II-] Congal 41 
 
 " See, holy men are 'mongst us come with message sweet of peace 
 " From God himself, and promise sure that sin and strife shall 
 
 " cease ; 
 " Else wherefore, if with fear and force mankind must ever dwell, 
 "Raise we the pardon-spreading cross and peace-proclaiming cell?" 5 
 
 " Raise what we may, Preceptress fair," the sullen King replied, 
 " Wars were and will be to the end." And from his promised bride 
 Took hurried parting ; for he feared to trust a lover's lips 
 With all his secret heart designed. Bealfarsad of the ships 
 That night received him ; and, from thence, across the northern sea 10 
 Went Congal Claen to seek the aid of Alban Eochaid Buie. 
 
 Druid Drostan, on the Alban shore, come forth to view the day, 
 Beheld the swift ship from the south sweep up the shining bay, 
 And hailed the stranger- warriors as they leaped upon the strand. 
 
 " My love be to the goodly barque, and to the gallant band : 15 
 
 " Say, courteous sons, whence come ye ?" 
 
 Congal said, " From Erin we 
 "Come, seeking aid and counsel of my grandsire, Eochaid Buie." 
 
 " Dear Congal," cried the Druid, " thou art stately grown and tall 
 " Since first I nursed thee on my knee in Yellow Eochaid's hall." 20 
 
 And embraced him and caressed him, and conducted him where sate 
 Alban Eochaid at the chess-tables before Dun-Money gate. 
 
 He told the King his errand : when the tale of wrongs was done, 
 Said Eochaid, " It shall ne'er be said that Alba's daughter's son 
 
42 Congal. ["■ 
 
 " Took affront of Erin's Domnal witliout reckoning at sword-edge 
 
 " Had duly upon stricken field ; and, though my ancient pledge 
 
 " Forbids that I should raise the spear 'gainst one who 'neath my roof 
 
 " In former times had shelter, not the less in thy behoof 
 
 " Shall Alba's hosts be forward. Four princely sons are ours, 5 
 
 " Thy mother's brothers ; they shall lead thine allied Alban powers ; 
 
 " Domnal, Sweeny, Aed, and Congal. Thou shalt tarry here to-day : 
 
 " To-morrow, sail for Britain." 
 
 Then said Congal Menn, " I pray 
 " My nephew-namesake Congal that to-day he feast with me." 10 
 
 " Nay, rather," answered Domnal Brec, " I, by seniority, 
 " Have better right to feast the King." 
 
 " For me," said Sweeny, then, 
 " Though younger I than either, yet neither Brec nor Menn 
 " Takes Congal Claen's indignity to heart with warmer mind." I 5 
 
 " And I," said Aed Green-Mantle, " will not fall far behind, 
 " If by that line ye measure." 
 
 *• Peace, Princes," said the king: 
 " Your wives are present ; and meseems it were a seemlier thing 
 " They they before your nephew should advance your kindly claims; 20 
 "For good men's praises worthier sound on lips of lovely dames." 
 
 Then said the wife of Domnal Brec, " There has not yet been 
 " found 
 " A man so bountiful as mine on Erse or Alban ground. 
 
"•] Congal. 43 
 
 " If green Slieve Money were of gold, Slieve Money in a day 
 "From Freckled Domnal's hand would pass: wherefore, oh King, I 
 
 " pray, 
 " In virtue of the open hand, that thou to-day decree 
 " The feasting of the royal guest to Domnal and to me." 5 
 
 The wife of Congal Menn spoke next. " Of plundering lords is 
 " none 
 " Who knows to turn unlawful spoil to lawful, like the son 
 " Of Yellow Eochaid, Congal; he whose sword converts the prey 
 " To lawful riches in his house, to keep or give away in 
 
 " As best his proper mind may prompt, is he, oh King, whose plea 
 " Should stand alike in suit of arms and hospitality." 
 
 Said Sweeny's wife : " What gold and gems ye find in Sweeny's hall 
 " Adorn his drinking-cups, whereof one hundred serve the call 
 " Of daily guests: what other wealth his liberal hand provides 15 
 
 " Smokes daily on his open board: he makes no claim besides." 
 
 Aed Green-Cloak's fair-faced blooming wife spoke last. "Let 
 " Congal feast 
 " With whom his own free will inclines. In breast of Aed at least 
 " 'Twill breed no grudge nor envy. Aed's pleasure is the same, 20 
 
 " Feasting, or feasted by his friends." So spoke the prudent dame. 
 
 Then said the King, " Good reasons have you given, my daughters 
 " dear; 
 " But royal Congal, for to-day, feasts with his grandsire here : 
 
44 Congal. [n. 
 
 " And here let Domnal come with gifts, and Congal Menn with prey, 
 
 " And Sweeny with his hundred guests invited yesterday ; 
 
 " And here come Aed Green-Mantle, with his free ungrudging 
 
 " mind, 
 " Better than cups and cattle-spoil and hundred guests combined." 5 
 
 So there the banquet-board was spread. Across the tables wide 
 Gazing, the fit on Drostan fell. He stood and prophesied. 
 
 " I see a field of carnage. I see eagles in the air. 
 " Grey wolves from all the mountains. Sons of Eochaid Buie, 
 
 " beware. 10 
 
 " A fair grey warrior see I there. Before him, east and west, 
 " A mighty host lies scattered." 
 
 But Domnal and the rest 
 Of Eochaid's sons and courtiers made light of what he said, 
 Saying, " See us happier visions, or we'll get us, in thy stead, 15 
 
 " A clerk of Columb's people from Iona's friendly cell, 
 " Who will cast us better fortunes with his book and sacreing bell." 
 And made their banquet merrily, from jewelled cup and horn, 
 Quaffing till sunset. 
 
 Soon as light sufficed, at coming morn, 20 
 
 For sharp-eyed husbandman to note, upon his farm-ward way, 
 The difference twixt the aspen leaf and feathery ashen spray, 
 Impatient Congal, and the youths of Ulster, once again, 
 With salient surge-compressing prow, launched on the dusky main. 
 
ii-J Congal. 45 
 
 Arrived at Caer Leon, and his weighty errand told ; 
 Said British Eochaid : 
 
 " I myself am waxen stiff and old : 
 " And chief in Eochaid's stead to lead our warriors we have none, 
 " Till, first, Maen Amber's judgment shall in this behalf be known. 5 
 
 " For here three youths come claiming, each, to be our Conan Rodd, 
 " Heir of my crown and kingdom, who, journeying abroad 
 " Upon a sudden boyish feud these many years ago, 
 " We deemed him dead, and mourned a loss that made us lasting 
 
 " woe. 10 
 
 " Till, on the sudden, here to-day those youths of noble mien 
 " Are come, perplexing mightily my courtiers and my Queen : 
 " Each ruddy as the rising morn ; each on his blooming cheek 
 " Bearing the well-remembered mole that marks the son we seek; 
 " Each telling tales of former days to Conan only known : 15 
 
 " Wherefore we take this judgment ; for the prudent, holy Stone 
 " Stirs not at touch of Falsehood, though an hundred pushed amain ; 
 " But nods at finger-touch of Truth." 
 
 Then answered Congal Claen : 
 " Entrust to me, oh King," said he, " the easy task, to prove 
 " For which of these three candidates Maen Amber ought to move." 
 
 " Do as thou wilt," replied the King. 
 
 Then Congal in the gate, 
 His short spear in his hand, sat down, the youths' return to wait. 
 
 20 
 
46 Congal. [n. 
 
 First came a ruddy youth, who cried, " Make way — The Amber 
 " Stone, 
 " Steadfast as Skiddaw to the rest, moved free for me alone." 
 
 Said Congal, " None may enter here, till first he answer me 
 " My question: See this gateway wide: now, hero, if thou be 5 
 
 " The royal son thou boast'st thyself; resolve me, with what sort 
 " Of gate wilt thou, when thou art King, make fast this royal fort?" 
 
 " When I am King," replied the youth, " my subjects shall behold 
 '• My gates resplendent from afar with plates of yellow gold." 
 
 " A proud Churl's answer," Congal said. " Pretender, stand 10 
 " aside. 
 " If false Maen Amber bowed to thee, the juggling demon lied." 
 
 Next came another ruddier youth, saying, " Although the Stone 
 " Moved but a little at my touch, I am the heir alone." 
 
 Then Congal questioned him in turn; and prompt in turn he 15 
 spoke — 
 " Steel-studded, cross-barr'd, bolted down on native heart of oak." 
 
 " That thou art not a Churl, as he, thy prompt words well evince," 
 Said Congal ; "but they also show that neither art thou Prince." 
 
 Last came a hero ruddiest and tallest of the three, 20 
 
 Saying, " Although the Amber Stone moved not at all for me, 
 " I not the less am Conan Rodd." 
 
 Then Congal Claen once more 
 Put him his question, like as put to either youth before. 
 
ii.] Covgal. 47 
 
 The hero answered : " Were I King in Britain's Dragon-den, 
 " The gate-planks of my house should be the boardly breasts of men ; 
 " For kinglier sight by sea or land doth no man's eye await, 
 " Than faces bright, in time of need, of good men in the gate." 
 
 " Embrace me, Prince," cried Congal. " Thou art the royal son ; 5 
 " And thou shalt lead my British aids." And so the thing was done. 
 
 Thence Congal sailed to Frank-land and to Saxon-land afar, 
 Aids from the ocean-roaming Kings engaging for the war ; 
 Wherewith and with his British aids, and allied Alban power, 
 For Erin, from Loch Linnhe side, he sailed in evil hour. 10 
 
OONGAL. 
 
 BOOK III. 
 
 The dusky Dalaradian heights at hand appearing now, 
 
 King Congal, as apart he stood, and from his galley's prow 
 
 Beheld the swift ships far dispersed across the ocean dark, 
 
 As harnessed steers, when, for a prize, within some rich man's park, 
 
 They cut in clay, with coulter clean, the onward-reddening line, 
 
 With slant keels ceaseless turning up the white-foam'd barren brine, 5 
 
 And black, pernicious, woe-chai-ged sides, and tall masts forward bow'd, 
 
 Intent to launch their fatal freight on Erin, groaned aloud : 
 
 And " Much-loved native hills," he said, " I grieve that thus I come 
 
 " Not charged with cups or cattle-spoil, nor carrying captives home, 
 
 " Nor bearing boast of friends relieved or enemies confused, 10 
 
 " As other ship-returning Kings have heretofore been used ; 
 
 " But laden deep with death and woe, of all my race the first 
 
 " To bring the hireling stranger in, I come in hour accurst." 
 
 Exclaimed an aged mariner who by the main-mast stood — 
 " O'er all the Dalaradian hills there hangs a cloud of blood. ls 
 
 " Gore-drops fall from its edges." 
 
hi- J Congal. 49 
 
 "Peace, fool," the King returned, 
 " 'Twas but the early morning mist that in the sunrise burned." 
 And cried to thrust the barques ashore where in a winding bay, 
 Far camped along the margent foam, the hosts of Ulster lay 
 Expectant. Forth the anchors went ; and shoreward swinging round, 5 
 The lofty poops of all the fleet together took the ground, 
 Harsh grinding on the pebbly beach : then, like as though a witch, 
 Brewing her charm in cauldron black, should chance at owlet's 
 
 scritch 
 Hooting athwart the gloom, to turn her head aside, the while 10 
 
 Winds bellow, and the fell contents on all sides overboil : 
 So, down the steep, dark galley's sides leaped they : so, spuming o'er, 
 They crowded from the teeming holds, and spread along the shore 
 In blackening streams. The Ulster hosts with acclamation loud 
 Gave welcome ; and the ranks were filled. 15 
 
 But while they stood, a cloud 
 Stood overhead ; and, as the thought a dreaming man conceives, 
 Which he, the while, some wondrous thing of import vast believes, 
 Grows folly, when his waking mind scans it ; so, in the frown 
 Of that immense, sky-filling cloud the great hills dwindled down ; 20 
 
 And all the sable-sided hulks that loomed so large before 
 Small now as poor men's fisher-craft showed on the darkened shore. 
 Awed in the gathering gloom, the hosts stood silent ; -till there came 
 A clap of thunder, and therewith a sheet of levin-flame 
 
 H 
 
50 Cungal. [ill. 
 
 Dropt in white curtain straight from heaven between them and the 
 
 ships : 
 And when the pale day-light returned, after that keen eclipse, 
 In smoke and smouldering flame the ships stood burning: o'er their 
 
 sides 5 
 
 The sailors leaped : while moaning deep, sudden, the refluent tides 
 Gave all their dry keels to the wind; the wind whose waftings fair 
 Had borne them thither through the deep, thence bore them off 
 
 through air, 
 In fire and smoke : through all the host, like flakes of driving snow, 10 
 The embers fell ; and all their cheeks scorched in the fervid glow. 
 
 Then thus exclaimed the Frankish King : " Our first step on this land 
 " Is with no cheering omen, friends ; for if Jehovah's hand 
 '' It be that casts this thunderbolt, but small success, I fear 
 " Attends our enterprise ; but come, give all your labours here 15 
 
 " To quench the galley first that lies to windward of the fleet ; 
 " For ill betides Invader left without way of retreat." 
 
 Then many a man with rueful eye looked o'er the naked main, 
 And wished himself, with neither spoil nor glory, at home again. 
 
 But " Fear not, friends," cried Congal Claen. '' Ye have not 20 
 
 " sought us here 
 " For stay so short, ye need repine if portion of the year 
 " Be spent in fitting forth a fleet; for in our Ulster ports 
 " Both ships we have and artizans accomplished in all sorts 
 
ni.] Congal. 51 
 
 " Of naval workmanship ; strong smiths, and carpenters whose stroke 
 " To every form man's need demands can shape the knotted oak. 
 " Wherefore keep cheerful hearts. No loss but time and care replace. 
 " A stumble at the start is oft the winning of the race." 
 
 So counselled Congal ; and the hosts with better courage strove 5 
 To quench the flames ; but still the flames intenser-rising drove 
 Wide through the fleet, from barque to barque : then, in the midst, 
 
 a cry 
 Was heard from Kellach : 
 
 " Lift me up, companions ; raise me high, 10 
 " That all may see me, and my words of all be understood. 
 " Sons, hold your hands. Desist," he cried. " Let burn ! The omen's 
 
 " good. 
 " Fire is the sire of Life and Force. The mighty men of yore 
 " Still burned the barques that landed them on whatsoever shore 15 
 
 " They chose for conquest. Warriors then were men indeed, and 
 
 " scorned 
 " Alike the thought and means of flight. From battle none returned 
 " Then but the victors. Heroes then, untaught the art to yield, 
 " Ere standing fight would slay the steeds that bore them to the field ; 20 
 " Ere joining battle by a bridge, would leave the bridge behind 
 " Broken, lest lightest thought of flight should enter any mind. 
 " Thus when, in Gaulish galleys borne, invading Asclepid 
 " Had passed the guardian British ships, in misty mantle hid, 
 
52 Conga!. [ill. 
 
 " And landed Caesar's hosts, for march direct on startled Thames, 
 " His fortunes to the Gods he gave, his galleys to the flames. 
 " 'Twas in Constantius' days, when, 'gainst the Imperial rule rebelled, 
 " Allectus, in Carausius' room, the throne of Britain held. 
 " Thus Nuad of the Silver-Hand from Dovar setting sail, 5 
 
 " Charged with the King-discerning might of vocal Lia Fail, 
 " When first for Erin's coasts he steered, and made the sacred strand, 
 "Waited for no chance lightning-flash, but with his proper hand 
 " Fired all his long-ships, till the smoke that from that burning rose 
 " Went up before him, herald-like, denouncing to his foes 10 
 
 " Death and despair : they deeming him a necromancer clad 
 " In magic mists, stood not, but fled : wherefore be rather glad 
 " That what your own irresolute hands this day have failed to do 
 " Heaven's interposing hand hath done ; and bravely done it, too : 
 " Since even so this rolling cloud with all its embers red, 15 
 
 " That like a mighty spangled flag now waves above my head, 
 " Announces to that coward King of Tara that, once more, 
 "The heroes of the North have burned their barques on Erin's shore." 
 He ended, and from gown and beard shook forth the falling fire, 
 While all the hosts with loud acclaim approved the sentence dire ; 20 
 
 And leaving there their blackening barques consuming by the wave, 
 Marched inland, and their camp at eve pitched by King Teuthal's grave, 
 Twixt Ullar's and Ollarva's founts. 
 
 Around the Mound of Sighs 
 
in.] Covgal. 53 
 
 They filled the woody-sided vale ; but no sweet sleep their eyes 
 
 Refreshed that night: for all the night, around their echoing camp, 
 
 Was heard continuous from the hills, a sound as of the tramp 
 
 Of giant footsteps ; but so thick the white mist lay around 
 
 None saw the Walker save the King. He, starting at the sound, 5 
 
 Called to his foot his fierce red hound ; athwart his shoulders cast 
 
 A shaggy mantle, grasped his spear, and through the moonlight passed 
 
 Alone up dark Ben-Boli's heights, toward which, above the woods, 
 
 With sound as when at close of eve the noise of falling floods 
 
 Is borne to shepherd's ear remote on stilly upland lawn, 10 
 
 The steps along the mountain side with hollow fall came on. 
 
 Fast beat the hero's heart ; and close down-crouching by his knee 
 
 Trembled the hound, while through the haze, huge as through mists 
 
 at sea, 
 The week-long-sleepless mariner descries some mountain- cape, 15 
 
 Wreck-infamous, rise on his lee, appeared a monstrous Shape 
 Striding impatient, like a man much grieved, who walks alone 
 Considering of a cruel wrong : down from his shoulders thrown 
 A mantle, skirted stiff with soil splashed from the miry ground, 
 At every stride against his calves struck with as loud rebound 20 
 
 As makes the mainsail of a ship brought up along the blast, 
 When with the coil of all its ropes it beats the sounding mast. 
 So striding vast, the giant pass'd ; the King held fast his breath ; 
 Motionless, save his throbbing heart ; and still and chill as death 
 
54 Congal. [ill. 
 
 Stood listening while, a second time, the giant took the round 
 Of all the camp : but when at length, for the third time, the sound 
 Came up, and through the parting haze a third time huge and dim 
 Rose out the Shape, the valiant hound sprang forth and challenged him. 
 And forth, disdaining that a dog should put him so to shame, 5 
 
 Sprang Congal, and essayed to speak. 
 
 " Dread Shadow, stand. Proclaim 
 " What would'st thou, that thou thus all night around my camp 
 
 " should'st keep 
 " Thy troublous vigil ; banishing the wholesome gift of sleep 10 
 
 " From all our eyes, who, though inured to dreadful sounds aud sights 
 " By land and sea, have never yet in all our perilous nights 
 " Lain in the ward of such a guard." 
 
 The Shape made answer none ; 
 But with stern wafture of its hand, went angrier striding on, 15 
 
 Shaking the earth with heavier steps. Then Congal on his track 
 Sprang fearless. 
 
 " Answer me, thou Churl," he cried. " I bid thee back !" 
 But while he spoke, the giant's cloak around his shoulders grew 
 Like to a black bulged thunder-cloud ; and sudden out there flew 20 
 
 From all its angry swelling folds, with uproar unconfined, 
 Direct against the King's pursuit, a mighty blast of wind : 
 Loud flapped the mantle tempest-lined, while fluttering down the gale, 
 As leaves in Autumn, man and hound were swept into the vale, 
 
"i-J Congal. 55 
 
 And, heard o'er all the huge uproar, through startled Dalaray 
 The giant went, with stamp and clash, departing south away. 
 
 The King sought Ardan in his tent ; and to the wakeful Bard, 
 Panting and pale, disclosed at large what he had seen and heard ; 
 Considering which a little time, the Master sighed and spoke. 5 
 
 " King, thou describest by his bulk and by his clapping cloak 
 " A mighty demon of the old time, who with much dread and fear 
 " Once filled the race of Partholan ; Manannan Mor Mac Lir, 
 " Son of the Sea. In former times there lived not on the face 
 " Of Erin a sprite of bigger bulk or potenter to raise 10 
 
 " The powers of air by land or sea in lightning, tempest, hail, 
 " Or magical thick mist, than he ; albeit in woody Fail 
 " Dwelt many demons at that time : but being so huge of limb, 
 " Manannan had the overward of the coast allotted him, 
 " To stride it round, from cape to cape, daily ; and if a fleet 15 
 
 " Hove into sight, to shake them down a sea-fog from his feet ; 
 " Or with a wafture of his cloak flap forth a tempest straight 
 " Would drive them off a hundred leagues ; and so he kept his 
 
 state 
 " In churlish sort about our bays and forelands, till at last 20 
 
 " Great Spanish Miledh's mighty sons, for all he was so vast 
 "And fell a churl, in spite of him, by dint of blows, made good 
 " Their landing, and brought in their Druids : from which time forth, 
 " the brood 
 
56 Congal. [in. 
 
 •' Of Goblin people shun the light ; some in the hollow sides 
 
 " Of hills lie hid ; some hide beneath the brackish ocean-tides ; » 
 
 " Some underneath the sweet-well springs. Manannan, Poets say, 
 
 " Fled to the isle which bears his name, that eastward lies halfway 
 
 " Sailing to Britain ; whence at times he wades the narrow seas, 5 
 
 " Revisiting his old domain, when evil destinies 
 
 " Impend o'er Erin : but his force and magic might are gone : 
 
 " And at such times 'tis said that he who, 'twixt twilight and dawn, 
 
 " Meets him and speaks him, safely learns a year's events to be.'' 
 
 " But he who speaks him," Congal said, "and gains no answer — he ?" 10 
 
 " Within the year, the Seers agree," said Ardan, " he must die ; 
 " For death and silence, we may see, bear constant company." 
 
 " Be it so, Bard," replied the King. " To die is soon or late 
 " For every being born alive the equal doom ef Fate. 
 " Nor grieve I much ; nor would I grieve if Heaven had so been pleased 15 
 " That either I had not been born, or had already ceased, 
 " Being born, to breathe ; but while I breathe so let my life be spent 
 " As in renown of noble deeds to find a monument." 
 
 By this the moonlight paled in dawn ; and onward to Rathmore 
 Of green Moy-Linny marched the hosts, and round King Congal's door 20 
 Pitched camp again ; where copious feasts, by Kellach's care prepared, 
 Refreshed them, and the gift of sleep their weary eyelids shared. 
 
 And now, at dawn, to cross the fords, hard-by the royal town, 
 The fresh, well-ordered, vigorous bands in gallant ranks drew down : 
 
Hi- J Congal. 5 ? 
 
 When, lo, a Spectre horrible, of more than human size, 
 Full in the middle of the ford took all their wondering eyes. 
 A ghastly woman it appeared, with grey dishevelled hair 
 Blood-draggled, and with sharp-boned arms, and fingers crook'd and 
 
 spare 5 
 
 Dabbling and washing in the ford, where mid-leg deep she stood 
 Beside a heap of heads and limbs that swam in oozing blood, 
 Whereon and on a glittering heap of raiment rich and brave 
 With swift, pernicious hands she scooped and pour'd the crimson'd 
 
 wave. 1° 
 
 And though the stream approaching her ran tranquil, clear and bright, 
 Sand-gleaming between verdant banks, a fair and peaceful sight, 
 Downward the blood-polluted flood rode turbid, strong and proud, 
 With heady-eddying dangerous whirls and surges dashing loud. 
 
 All stood aghast. But Kellach cried, " Advance me to the bank ; 15 
 " I'll speak the Hag." 
 
 But back, instead, his trembling bearers shrank. 
 Then Congal from the foremost rank a spear-cast forward strode, 
 And said, 
 
 " Who art thou, hideous one ; and from what curst abode 20 
 " Comest thou thus in open day the hearts of men to freeze; 
 " And whose lopp'd heads and severed limbs and bloody vests are these ?" 
 
 " I am the Washer of the Ford," she answered; " and my race 
 " Is of the Tuath de Danaan line of Magi ; and my place 
 
 I 
 
58 Congal. [hi. 
 
 " For toil is in the running streams of Erin ; and my cave 
 
 " For sleep is in the middle of the shell-heaped Cairn of Maev, 
 
 " High up on haunted Knocknarea; and this fine carnage-heap 
 
 " Before me, and these silken vests and mantles which I steep 
 
 " Thus in the running water, are the severed heads and hands 5 
 
 " And spear -torn scarfs and tunics of these gay-dressed, gallant bands 
 
 " Whom thou, oh Congal, leadest to death. And this," the Fury said, 
 
 Uplifting by the clotted locks what seemed a dead man's head, 
 
 " Is thine own head, oh Congal." 
 
 Therewith she rose in air, 10 
 
 And vanished from the warriors' view, leaving the river bare 
 Of all but running water. But Congal drew his sword 
 And with a loud defying shout, plunged madly in the ford, 
 Probing the empty pools; then stood, and from the middle flood 
 Exclaimed : 15 
 
 " Here stand I, and here swear that till the tide of blood 
 " Thus laves my knees, I will not turn for threat of Devil or Ghost, 
 " Fairy or lying Spirit accurst, while one of all this host 
 " Follows my leading.'' 
 
 Conan Rodd sprang kindling forth and cried, 20 
 " I fail thee not, for one, my King:" and stood by Congal's side, 
 Grasping his hand. Halt Kellach wept, and cried, 
 
 " Ah, recreant ones, 
 " Great Rury's cheek is red for shame, to see Ultonian sons 
 
in.] Congal. 59 
 
 " Like goblin-daunted children small, scared at a nurse's lay, 
 
 " Thus hanging back on Honor's track, while Britons lead the way. 
 
 " Fear not the Hag ; I know her well, accurst one ! She appears 
 
 " To battle-entering warriors once in every seven years; 
 
 " And seven and seven years, exact, it is since last before 5 
 
 " I saw her foul ill-favoured face, the day that Domnal Mor 
 
 " And Scallan Broad-Shield gave the breach on royal Sweeny Menn 
 
 " At red Troy-Brena: 'twas at dawn ; and in the cressy fen 
 
 " By the loch- side, where afterwards, crossing the treacherous quag, 
 
 " So many of us sank engulfed, we saw the hideous Hag 10 
 
 " Stoop'd at her washing. Not a man of all the gazing host 
 
 " But shook to see the carnage-pile before the grisly ghost; 
 
 " Each deeming that his own lopp'd head, conspicuous 'mid the pile, 
 
 " Lay glaring; and this very head, gathering defilement vile, 
 
 " Saw I among them ; yet I came from that fight scatheless forth ; 15 
 
 " And therefore hold her prophecies are but of little worth. 
 
 " But, would to God, these limbs had then been stiff as now they are, 
 
 " Ere I for thankless Domnal's sake had part in such a war; 
 
 " Or now were strong and supple-swift as then indeed they were, 
 
 " So should ye never see me here, and British Conan there." 20 
 
 So Kellach spoke ; and all their hearts grew great with manly shame ; 
 And as a flood flows through a flood, up through the fords they came, 
 Raising Ollarva: all their shields and shining belts were wet 
 With clear, cold, fishy-streaming floods against the strong bar set 
 
60 Congal. [in. 
 
 Of limbs heroic and deep chests. But when the fords were pass'd 
 And the long columns drew their strength forth on the champaign vasti 
 Fear fell again on Congal's host, and much oppressed with awe, 
 They pondered what they late had heard, and what, but now, they saw. 
 
 Southward in gloomy-gliding ranks, hushed all in dumb dismay, 5 
 The hosts across the upland bare, and through the morning grey, 
 As drifting cloud at close of day that tracks the heaven serene, 
 Held on their dark unechoing march athwart the Fassagh green, 
 Till on a car afar were seen, by two swift coursers drawn, 
 Herself, Lafinda, and her Nurse, advancing through the dawn. 10 
 
 Swift they approached : the ruddy blaze of sunrise round them spread 
 Seemed with a diadem of rays to crown each radiant head. 
 
 " Congal," the royal maiden said, " be not incensed, I pray, 
 " That thus in presence of the hosts I cross thy warlike way ; 
 " For need admitting no delay impels me; and the ire 15 
 
 " Of one I dare not disobey constrains the message dire. 
 " Last night, at midnight, by my bed an awful form there stood, 
 " Whom by her vermeil-lettered book, and by her purple hood, 
 " And hoary, glory-beaming locks, that shone like sun-lit snow, 
 " For Blessed Brigid of Kildare I could not choose but know ; 20 
 
 " And said, ' Awake: arise : go forth: thy nurse, Lavarcam, waits 
 " ' With car and ready -harnessed steeds without the fortress gates : 
 " ' Mount by her side, and northward forth ride fearless till the dawn 
 " ' Show thee an army on its march across the upland lawn ; 
 
m.] Congal 61 
 
 " ' Then to the King who leads that host say thus, Oh mighty King, 
 
 " ' From Duftach's daughter of Kildare I thee this message bring : 
 
 " ' Turn back or perish : thou and all thy Hosting : for the path 
 
 " ' From hence to Moyra on both sides is hedged about with wrath, 
 
 " ' And paved for foot of every man who in thy conduct treads 5 
 
 " ' With slippery, horror-staring floor of slaughtered heroes' heads.' 
 
 " So spoke she; I by strong constraint drawn to the gates, obeyed; 
 
 " And here, through shadows of the night, as in a dream conveyed, 
 
 " Now find myself, but in no dream ; and, horror-filled, I see 
 
 " These mighty-marching, death-devoted heroes led by thee, 10 
 
 '< Oh Congal." 
 
 Congal, answering, said : " Dear maid, thou art deceived : 
 " These visions of the feverish night are not to be believed. 
 " But come ; such poor refreshment now as warriors' tents afford, 
 " Take; and when seasonable rest thy strength shall have restored, 15 
 " A noble escort shall attend thy home-returning car, 
 " Such as befits thy father's child : and when this short-lived war 
 " Is ended — for this host shall soon abate the tyrant's pride — 
 " With Erin for thine escort, thou, a crowned and royal bride, 
 " I, crowned and happy, by thy side, kings by our bridle-rein, 
 " Shall up to fair Rath-Keltar ride, never to part again." 
 
 " Congal," the Princess pale replied ; " No bridal pomp for me 
 " Is destined, if thou hearkenest not to Brigid's embassy ; 
 " Save haply such a bridal pomp as, entering Brigid's cell, 
 
 20 
 
(r2 Coiigal. [in. 
 
 " A handmaiden of Christ may hope." 
 
 Said he, " The powers of hell 
 " Have sought to turn me, and have failed ; and though in thee I find 
 " My only heaven, yet neither thou shalt bend my steadfast mind." 
 
 " Ah me,'' she cried. " What fate is mine! The daughter of a 5 
 '• King, 
 " Wooed by a King, and well content to wear the marriage ring; 
 " Who never knew the childish want not granted, nor desire 
 " Of maiden bosom, but good saints and angels 'would conspire 
 "To bring the innocent wish to pass : who with the streams and flowers, 10 
 " So happy was I, turned to joy the very passing hours, 
 " From flowery earth and fragrant air, and all sweet sounds and sights 
 " Filling my heart, from morn to eve, with fresh and pure delights, — 
 " Just when, in bloom of life, I said, 'this world is wondrous fair,' 
 " Now in one hour see nothing left, to live for, but despair.'' 15 
 
 " Damsel," said Kellach from his chair, " these dreams that 
 " haunt the bed 
 " Of timorous virgins vanish all when once the maids are wed. 
 " And royally thou shalt be wed, and gallantly be brought 
 " Home to a dream-defying bed when once this breach is fought." 20 
 
 " Ah, aged Scorner," cried the Nurse, who by the Princess stood, 
 " Thou never wanted'st ribald taunt for aught was pure or good. 
 " Beware, lest on both soul and limb God's angry judgments fall, 
 "For to tliv crooked counsellinffs we owe these mischiefs all." 
 
in.] Congal. 63 
 
 Said Kellach: "If a withered Hag, with prophecies of death, 
 " Had power to turn sword-girded men back upon Honor's path, 
 " Thou hadst no need to waste thy breath on us who, even now 
 " Are here despite the menaces of uglier witch than thou." 
 
 " Wretch,'' cried the dame, " abide thy fate ;'' and car and coursers 5 
 wheeled, 
 Her aspect changing awfully; and, as she swept the field, 
 Brigid, they thought, stood plain revealed : and steeds and car 
 
 became 
 Bright in her presence as in glow of forge-excited flame. 10 
 
 But with a greyhound's bound, the King leaped to the reins, and 
 
 cried, 
 " Daughter of Duftach, stay thy steeds : turn back : restore my 
 " bride !" 
 But Brigid lashed the spurning steeds : they by the sharp whip stung, 15 
 Off, with a foam-dispersing snort, the baffled hero flung: 
 But back again fierce Congal sprung, with lion's leap and roar 
 Terrific, shouting as he ran, 
 
 " Thou robber Saint, restore 
 " My bride !" 20 
 
 And at the wide-maned steeds, where side by side they flew 
 With earth-and-heaven-defying hand, his mortal javelin threw. 
 But Brigid motioned with her hand, and from the chariot seat, 
 Glancing oblique, the spear returned innocuous to his feet. 
 
64 Congal. [in. 
 
 The eyes of all the astonished host Garr-Congail's flight pursued ; 
 And, when they looked again, the car was lost within the wood. 
 
 Mute stood the hosts, in awe subdued ; and fear blanched many a 
 cheek, 
 Ruddy till then; then thus began the Frankish King to speak: 5 
 
 " God wars against this war, oh Kings ; and pledged albeit I be 
 " To succour valiant Congal Claen against the enmity 
 " Of Domnal, King of Erin, no promise have I given 
 " To succour valiant Congal Claen 'gainst God the King of Heaven, 
 " Who, by His Saints, this day declares for Domnal. Therefore now 10 
 " Thus I advise : here found we straight a splendid cell, and vow 
 " The same to Brigid of Kildare, bestowing gems and gold 
 " Such as we have, and dowrying it with tributes manifold 
 " From our respective territories; then in our Patron's name 
 " Proffer we royal Domnal peace; and of his bounty claim 15 
 
 " Ships and safe conduct to our homes. Meantime, enclose a space 
 "For our encampment; and, meseems, no more convenient place 
 " Could skill devise than where we stand ; and so our work would 
 
 " speed 
 •' Safely, surrounded by the camp ; for, trust me, ye have need 20 
 
 " To dedicate your shrines with speed, if, from God's vengeful hand 
 " Escaped, ye hope to see again your wives and native land." 
 
 Cried Druid Drostan, " Stone nor lime yon eagles' maws shall sate. 
 " These wolves that track our morning march no Cleric-rites await. 
 
in.] Congal. 65 
 
 " For God has given presaging power to beasts and birds of air; 
 
 " And dreams of bloody banquetings, in bestial dens, declare 
 
 " Approaching hayoc, even as dreams foretell approaching rain 
 
 " In troubled towns of crows by night. Now, for the destined slain, 
 
 " All Erin's eyries flap the wing ; and every forest den 5 
 
 " Of Erin whets the tooth for flesh of horses and of men." 
 
 " Peace, fool," Albanian Congal said. " Since first Columba's bell 
 " Was heard in Alba, all thy clan's prophetic function fell 
 " Under constraint and under spell. Ambiguous, fatuous, vague 
 " Have been the empty words wherewith, from that day forth, ye plague 10 
 " The judgments of the credulous men of Alba : to such words 
 " Let not the men who love their wives, and look with loyal swords 
 " Here to win spoil to please their wives and deck their halls at home, 
 " Give heed or credence. But, -because invading strangers come 
 " To prey the land, its patriot Ghosts and tutelary Sprites 15 
 
 " Rise out to thwart us. Now, we know no exorcising rites 
 "To lay or to propitiate them; except this sacrifice 
 " The Clerics make pretence to make : and therefore, my advice 
 " Goes with the counsel of the King; to raise an altar here 
 " To Brigid whom amongst th^m all wise men may chiefly fear 20 
 
 " As owning most main power in act; but, Brigid's wrath appeased, 
 " My mind no longer is the King's ; for then she may be pleased, 
 " Haply, to aid us; or, at least, to leave in even scale 
 " The balanced chances of the war, till greater might prevail." 
 
 K 
 
Olj Congal. [ill. 
 
 Prince Sweeny Menn spoke next. He said : 
 
 " Sirs, since no man 
 " can say 
 " How strife untried may terminate, methinks the wiser way 
 " Were to prepare against the worst ; which, seeing our galleys' loss, 5 
 " I thus advise. Draw to the coast. There camp; and dig a fosse, 
 " With rampart suitable, across some jutting foreland's height ; 
 " So shall we sit secure till friends get warning of our plight; 
 " And send their ships to aid our flight ; if such be God's decree 
 " That after all our splendid hopes of spoil and victory, 10 
 
 " Flight needs must be our last resource. But here in open field, 
 " Far from supplies, I counsel not to camp, nor yet to build." 
 
 Said Aed Green-Mantle, " Kings, our plight is even as the case 
 " Of venturous fowler who pursues his game into a place, 
 " High up a slippery sea-rock's face, where jutting rocks impend, 15 
 
 " Which, though too steep for going down, a man may yet ascend, 
 " Being bold and cautious ; but behoves such climber that he cast 
 " No backward, hesitating glance on any peril past 
 " Until he gain the level land, where he can stand, and say, 
 " ' So have I reached to Safety's height by Danger's only way.' 20 
 
 " And so it is ; between the sea and Domnal's gathering host, 
 " We climb a precipice where he who looks behind is lost : 
 " But he who, scorning to turn back or make a doubtful stop, 
 " Looks and strives upward, lays his hand on Safety at the top. 
 
m.J Congal. 67 
 
 " Wherefore, since doubt is, doubtless, death; and ways of flight are 
 
 " none, 
 " For Life's and Honor's sake alike, I counsel, up, and on!" 
 
 Next Conan Rodd stepped forth to speak ; and as his head he 
 
 raised 5 
 
 Men's hearts rose with him, and the sun with fresh effulgence blazed. 
 Said Conan : " As I judge, great Kings and Princes, 'twere but 
 
 " vain 
 " To promise, if the word, gone forth, were now recalled again 
 " On show of first impediment : and vainer still it were 1° 
 
 " For warriors to devote themselves forth from their seventh year 
 " To feats of arms, if when at length indulgent Fates provide 
 " Heroic opportunity, they left the boon untried. 
 " For me, when first within my breast I felt the generous flame, 
 " And said, ' I '11 be a warrior,' my youthful dream of fame 15 
 
 " Was all of more than mortal foes, such as great Chiefs of yore 
 " Were wont to meet in desert vast or shadowy forest hoar; 
 "Tree-wielding Giants, mighty Churls who, through the echoing glades 
 " Of dreary forests, to their dens, would drag lamenting maids; 
 " Fell Sorcerers by enchanted gates ; or in his earthy hold 20 
 
 " The fire-exhaling wakeful worm coiled round the guarded gold : 
 " Or haply still more glorious foes, such as, with eager joy, 
 '• I've heard our Poets sing were those that fought the breach 
 
 " of Troy, 
 
68 Con gal. [in. 
 
 "When Gods from Heaven came down in arms, and godlike men 
 
 " beneath 
 " Withstood them, mortal foot to foot immortal, to the death. 
 " Fired by which noble fantasy, ere yet my youthful cheek 
 " Bore manly down, I left my home, in foreign lands to seek g 
 
 " Glorious adventure : many lands I visited ; and saw 
 " Many renowned cities of men, each by its proper law 
 " Governed, and by its proper hosts guarded ; and mighty wars 
 " In all lands waging ; yet I found neither in field of Mars, 
 " Nor on the long-shipped deep, nor yet in fell or forest drear, 10 
 
 " The shape or substance could withstand a brave man's searching 
 
 " spear; 
 " But, by the keen steel tried, would all confess an equal birth 
 " Drawn, death-obnoxious as my own, from dust of vulgar earth. 
 " And, for their mighty miracles and prodigies sublime, 15 
 
 " Of antique Gods, and holy Saints, these from the olden time 
 " Had, as they said, ceased utterly ; and now were only known 
 " In lays and legends of their Clerks, as idle as our own. 
 " Wherefore with glory-thirsting heart, that still insatiate burned, 
 " I from their barren battle-fields and empty camps returned, 2 n 
 
 " Resolved amid my native woods, and in the sacred gloom 
 " Of Stones of power, to seek again some conqueror of the tomb ; 
 " Great Arthur, with the apple-bloom of green Avallon's bowers 
 " Still redolent ; or Uther's self from Caer Sidi's towers ; 
 
in.] Congal. 69 
 
 "But sought in vain: my scornful steel on vulgar foes employed, 
 
 " Nor dread of Deity conceived, nor love of man enjoyed ; 
 
 " Till, glorious in a castle gate, like lion in the road, 
 
 " Couchant, I first saw Congal Claen ; and at first sight bestowed 
 
 " Faith and affection on the King : for never had I seen 5 
 
 " In all the earth a potentate of countenance or mien 
 
 " Royal as his : and as a youth amid the virgin throng 
 
 " Will move with unembarrassed heart, in gay indifference, long ; 
 
 " Till, in a moment, some one maid's unconscious glance constrains 
 
 " His soul to homage, and he thence bound in her thrall remains ; 10 
 
 " So I, who all my prime of years 'mongst noblest men had passed, 
 
 " And seen no man I'd deign to call or friend or lord ; at last, 
 
 " Taken in a moment, saw and owned my captain, friend, and King ; 
 
 " In whose just quarrel being engaged, I here to Erin bring 
 
 " My British aids ; and here at last, in open day, behold 15 
 
 " Immortal beings visibly commingling, as of old, 
 
 "In mortal struggles. Here at length I find my youthful dream 
 
 "Made real. Here the mighty deeds of antique heroes seem 
 
 " No longer all inimitable. Here Hercul's self might own 
 
 " Fit labour for another Toil, nor ask the task alone. 20 
 
 " Wherefore with awful joy elate, I stand ; and bid thee hail, 
 
 " Last hero-stage of all the world, illustrious Innisfail ! 
 
 " Land of the lingering Gods ! green land, still sparkling fresh and fair 
 
 " With morning dew of heroism dried up and gone elsewhere ! 
 
70 Congal. [in. 
 
 " Wherefore, no penitential cell for me ! But rather raise, 
 " Here, where old Honor stands revived, the Stone of other days, 
 " Grey, vast, majestic; such as when degenerate men behold, 
 " They'll say, ' Some noble thing was done here in the days of old.' 
 '' Such as when Poets view, they'll say, when ages hence are flown, 5 
 " ' Great hearts and mighty hands were theirs who raised the Standing 
 " Stone.' " 
 
 He said ; and on a great grey rock, half-buried in the field, 
 Stood in the flaming of his arms, and waved his golden shield. 
 Loud cheered the Welshmen ; and the King of Lochlan to his side 10 
 Leaped with a rivalling flash and clash ; and caught his hand, and cried, 
 
 " I swear by Woden and the might of hammer-hurling Thor, 
 " I love thee, Conan; and with thee am henceforth through this war 
 " True comrade, good or ill betide. I, too, have seen the homes 
 " Of mightiest Csesars; and beneath Byzantium's proudest domes 15 
 
 " Have borne the Waring's guardian axe, in shelter of whose blade 
 " The laws that bind the Imperial world, both Priest and King, are 
 
 " made. 
 " But gilded arch, nor marble porch, nor incense-scented air, 
 " Nor silken couch had ever charm, for me, that could compare 20 
 
 " With home in Lochlan : with the burg beside the Northern sea, 
 " Where runs the roebuck on the hill, where floats the pinnace free : 
 " Where still the ancient Gods receive, in forest and in cave, 
 '' With rites of sacrifice unfeigned, the worship of the brave; 
 
in.] Congal. 71 
 
 " And for their smoking altar-meeds sincere, return us still 
 
 " The conscious courage dominant, the power and kingly will 
 
 " To rule the fore-shores of the world, with all their citied sides, 
 
 " Where'er the wandering moons uplift the ship-uplifting tides. 
 
 " 111 would beseem the sea-borne kings of Letha's midmost coasts 5 
 
 " Here, in this outer spot of earth, to blench at sight of ghosts, 
 
 " Earthmen, or beldames of the cells ; though clad in shapes of air 
 
 "And owning shows of strength divine, that martial men elsewhere 
 
 " Meet not, nor ever deemed they 'd meet, since Woden to their dens, 
 
 "In Lappish deserts and the depths of Finmark's icy fens, 10 
 
 " Cast out the Trolls. My sentence then is, march, and meet your 
 
 " foes 
 " Of mortal mould with mortal arms. Let be the feud of those 
 " As fate hereafter may dispose. We reck not: neither crave 
 " Their aid prophetic to foresee well-filled, the foeman's grave. 15 
 
 " This is my sentence. 
 " Fairy nor Fire-drake 
 " Keep back the Kemper. 
 " At home, in the burg, 
 
 " Leaves he the maiden 20 
 
 " Boon for the bridal ; 
 " Abroad, on the holme, 
 " Leaves he the harvest 
 " Ripe for the reaper; 
 
72 Coiigal. [in. 
 
 " The bowl, on the board 
 
 " In the hall of the banquets, 
 
 " Leaves he'untasted, 
 
 " When lances uplift 
 
 " The foe in field. 5 
 
 " Noting the Norsemen 
 
 " Out on the water-throng, 
 
 " Hark ! how the Eagle 
 
 " Vaunts to the Vulture. 
 
 " ' Spread the wing, Scald-neck,' 15 
 
 " Says she and screams she ; 
 
 " ' Seest thou the Sea-Kings, 
 
 " ' Borne o'er the gannet-bath, 
 
 " ' Going to garner 
 
 " ' Every bird's eyrie ?' 10 
 
 " Fell from her fishy perch 
 
 " Answers the Bald-beak, 
 
 " ' Scream no more, little one ; 
 
 " ' Feeders are coming.' 
 
 " Hearkening their colloquy, 20 
 
 " Grins the grey beast, 
 
 " The wolf on wold. 
 
 " This is my sentence : 
 
 " These are the Norseman's 
 
Hi.] Congal. 73 
 
 " Pandect and Canon. 
 
 " Tliyrfing is thirsty ; 
 
 " Quern-biter hungers ; 
 
 " Shield-walker wearieth 
 
 " Shut in the scabbard. 5 
 
 " This is my sentence : 
 
 " Bring us to battle." 
 
 Fierce response gave three parts of the field ; 
 And loud the Eastman's iron axe on many a target pealed. 
 
 " What then," cried Ardan ; " and ye thought, landing on Erin's 10 
 " shore, 
 " Ye trod the common soil of earth, where Fortune asks no more 
 " Of Valour's votaries, when for fame they 've ransack'd field and flood 
 " To the world's end, than simple feats of vulgar hardihood? 
 "What! and ye never, then, had heard the old renowned tale 15 
 
 " Of Ever and his Spanish ships caught in the wizard gale, 
 " When all mist-mantled Innisfail showed of no bigger size 
 " Than black hog's back, above the wrack, before their glamoured eyes ; 
 " When, boiling from their fluent depths, the sands with solid wave 
 " Caught from his main-mast, Arannan, and made mid-air his grave, 20 
 " Mingling land, sand, sea, sky in one ? But Ever and his hosts 
 " Through magic mists, and boiling sands, and sentineling ghosts, 
 " Cut their brave path to Tara top : which Ever and his sept 
 " Of Clanna-Milidh ever since their sovereignty have kept 
 
 L 
 
74 Congal. [in. 
 
 " Supreme o'er Erin, liill and plain, air, water, land and sea ; 
 
 " They and their sub-kings under them in five-fold potency. 
 
 " What then, and came ye hither, 
 
 " Expecting common foemen, 
 
 " To combat the descendants 5 
 
 " Of seer-taught Cianna-Nemed, 
 
 " Who erst from broad Bceotia 
 
 " Repelled the invading Syrians ; 
 
 " Though still the Syrian magic 
 
 " Revivified the corpses 10 
 
 " Of those that fell at evening 
 
 " To fight their morning-battle 
 
 " With stark limbs demon-animated ? 
 
 " Ghastly they stood; the living 
 
 " And dead, shoulder to shoulder: 15 
 
 " From pale cheeks flew the arrow ; 
 
 " The sword in clammy fingers 
 
 " Of slaughtered men, dealt slaughter; 
 
 " And dusky spears went leaping 
 
 " Forth from insensate shoulders 20 
 
 " 'Neath which no hearts were throbbing. 
 
 " Horrible strife, and hopeless : 
 
 ' ' For what could human valour, 
 
 " Could human wit or counsel, 
 
I«-J Congal. 75 
 
 " Avail in such a contest ? 
 
 " Everything ! Wit and valour 
 
 " Know not the thing they cannot. 
 
 " For, with sharp daggers hewing 
 
 " Green stakes of holy hazel, 5 
 
 " Fast as they slew, they pinned them 
 
 " To earth ; the baffled demons; 
 
 "Around the warded corpses, 
 
 " Shrieking, like shrilly breezes 
 
 " That twirl the leaves in Autumn, 10 
 
 " Shook them, but found no entrance. 
 
 " No ; ye who come as conquerors to Erin's sacred shores, 
 
 " Come as to mysteries sublime within a temple's doors 
 
 " Shut to mere soldiers. Comrades you of Achil, Prince of Greece ; 
 
 " Free shipmates of the fearless crew that won the Golden Fleece ; 15 
 
 " Soldiers of Mithra, who have learned through earth, air, fire and sea, 
 
 " To press unblenching to the goal of life and light, be ye; 
 
 " Else steer not here your craven barques, but seek some vulgar 
 
 " strand 
 " Where easy-purchased victory invites the Coward's hand." 20 
 
 As when the tree-tops of a wood first feel a blast of wind, 
 One rustling oak begins to stir, then stirs the oak behind ; 
 Thence on in gradual-deepening grooves, and on in widening rings, 
 The tree-commingling tumult moves till all the forest swings ; 
 
76 Congal. [ill. 
 
 So battle-impulse through them went; so, at the Bard's appeal, 
 With thirst of combat, far and wide, they leaped and clashed the steel. 
 
 Then Congal, staying where he strode infuriate to and fro, 
 With fair white hand dashed from his cheek the briny overflow, 
 And cried, 5 
 
 " Oh, this it is, oh God, to have, in time of need, 
 " Men in the gate! and therefore I, though little used indeed 
 " To call on any name of God, yet, by whatever name 
 " Men call Thee, Thou who givest to men wives, children, riches, fame, 
 " And rarer than the worth of wives, and which the wealth transcends 10 
 " Of fame, as fame the worth of gold ; who givest a man his friends, 
 " I thank and praise Thee. Oh, brave friends, what though this 
 
 " goblin crew 
 "From all their earth- wombs foul, where'er they lurk from general view, 
 " Be by our coming thus stirred up ; even as I 've seen elsewhere 15 
 
 " The coming of a young rich man into a public fair 
 " Set all the banded cheats astir? 'Tis, that a common fear 
 " Besets them — being in a bond, leagued and consorting here, — 
 " That their united reign is o'er, once we achieve the crown 
 " Of Erin, and set up the law that casts all phantoms down. 20 
 
 " For, by the all-conspicuous Sun, and by the invisible Wind, 
 " Two the most awful of all names whereby a man may bind 
 " His soul with adjuration tremendous: by which two 
 " Laery Mac Neal did bind himself, remitting the Boru 
 
in.] Con gal. 77 
 
 " Of Leinster; notwithstanding which, and in contempt of these, 
 
 " He sought next year to levy it; wherefore his guarantees, 
 
 " The much-dishonored Wind and Sun, slew him: but Laery still 
 
 " Looks for his tribute from the brow of Tara's royal hill, 
 
 " Where,spear in hand and helm on head, they tomb'd him stern and tall, 5 
 
 " Brass-armed complete for standing fight, in Cahir-Laery's wall, 
 
 " With his great angry countenance turned toward the hated race 
 
 " Of Brasil Brec. Suns rise and sink: but Laery from his place 
 
 " Turns never : though its frown have dropped off from the fleshless 
 
 " brow, 10 
 
 " The gaunt hand still sustains the spear; and still the avenging vow 
 " Upholds him, to the impious man a warning portent grim : — 
 " But may the Sun and may the Wind, even as they dealt with him, 
 " So deal with me, gaining this crown, and failing to restore 
 " The Poets to their privileges, whate'er they held before 15 
 
 " Drumkeat's pernicious Parliament; cessings, pre-eminence, lands, 
 " All that that Synod's decree usurped, to fill the Clerics' hands, 
 " By them to our confusion turned : So may the Wind and Sun 
 " Deal with me, gaining Erin's crown, if, ere a year have run 
 " Its seasonable course complete, I leave within the pale 20 
 
 '' Of the four brine-exhaling seas that compass Innisfail 
 " One of these proud curse-fulminers ! What though with specious 
 
 "shows 
 " Of love aud charity they come; yet see the fate of those 
 
78 Congal. [in. 
 
 '• Who first were here their chiefest friends : Murkertach, son of Ere, 
 
 " For all his base compliances, pursued with curses dark 
 
 " By his own paid familiar priest, till, plunged in butt of wine, 
 
 " He drowned, to give the ban effect, at Sletty on the Boyne. 
 
 " Lewy Mac Laery, son to him who first gave Patrick room, 5 
 
 " While yet an unborn harmless babe, cursed in his mother's womb ; 
 
 " Then by priest-imprecated fire struck on the hateful hill 
 
 " Of Aehadarcha ; thus with mulcts and maledictions still 
 
 " Repaying us our slavish fears; if but the smallest jot 
 
 " Of blind obedience be denied, — commendable or not, 10 
 
 " Righteous or not, the thing commanded : — but this King 
 
 " His ready acquiescent ' yea' concedes to anything 
 
 " So they support his tyrannous power. Now, therefore, here at 
 
 " length 
 " His time has come, to put in ure this so-much boasted strength 15 
 
 " Of these his Cursers : for me thinks but few around me here 
 " Will hold his hand from hearty blows, at Moyra, out of fear 
 " For such as they; after our march this morning undismayed 
 " Through all their phantasms. For, unless he bring the power in aid 
 " Of God himself, which he can not; God being just, and he 20 
 
 " Most unjust; we have now to fear no greater enemy 
 " Than these weak ghosts, Avhich, having in vain spent all their spiteful 
 
 " force, 
 " Leave us at large to prosecute our unembarrassed course, 
 
ni.] Congal. 79 
 
 " Free as the eagle ; which, indeed, when he has stooped to prey 
 
 " His quarry in a hollow vale, at first nmst must make his way 
 
 " With gyres contracted twixt the hills ; till to a level run 
 
 " With his horizon ; but he then soars straightway at the Sun : 
 
 " Or as a seaman, being embayed, heaves oft his swerving boom 5 
 
 " Starboard and larboard; then at last, having attained sea-room, 
 
 " Lies his straight course, with keel direct cutting the ocean vast, 
 
 " While sun and rain, and wind and tide, and day and night flit past: 
 
 " So, flitting past our constant march, let these weak shades troop on : 
 
 " We, to our own hearts' level arisen ; we, Doubt's last headlands gone, 10 
 
 " Launched on our main-sea enterprise, go forth with steadfast mind, 
 
 " Nor turn a wavering look aside, nor cast a glance behind, 
 
 "While God betwixt us and our foes, impartial, leaves the event: 
 
 " For no man can contend with God, He being omnipotent ; 
 
 " But far removed from human strife, leaves to the daring man 15 
 
 " By force of valour to achieve such conquest as he can, 
 
 " Whether o'er other mortal men less valiant ; or o'er those 
 
 " Inferior demons of the air. 'Tis through such overthrows, 
 
 " Given in just quarrel, comes renown a man no other way 
 
 " Can compass ; for such conqueror the Bard's heroic lay 20 
 
 " Gives perpetuity of fame: the Statue-smith for him 
 
 " To forms of glory consecrates each marble-moulded limb : 
 
 " For him, when on his nation's behalf he rises up to speak, 
 
 " The council of the wise sit hushed : for him young Beauty's cheek 
 
80 Congal. [ill. 
 
 " Glows with the rose : all lips disclose their smiles for him whose arm 
 
 " Protects all life's delights for all: to him in war's alarm, 
 
 •' As to the husband of the State, the trembling mothers run, 
 
 " Holding their little ones : to him each generous-nurtured son 
 
 " Hurries instinctive ; as at sea when tempests overwhelm 5 
 
 " Faint hearts with horror in the hold, then chiefly round the helm 
 
 " Gather brave seamen. But the man whose sullen breast, exempt 
 
 " From generous impulse, prompts him forth upon no brave attempt, 
 
 " Lives sordidly and dies despised. He dares no stormy sea, 
 
 " Outflying Honor upon the wings of wintry tempests ; he 10 
 
 " Smiles at no spiteful impotent trick malicious Fortune plays; 
 
 " Follows no friend with loyal steps through ghost-prohibited ways; 
 
 " Burns with no emulous thirst of fame, when glowing tongues 
 
 " declare 
 " Brave aspirations ; as ye now, oh friends, stand burning there. — 15 
 " For lo, I see on all your cheeks the blush of manly shame ; 
 " Lo, now I see in all your eyes the generous sparkling flame, 
 " Presage of conquest. Lo, the path to Moyra, where the foe 
 " Waits us, lies open. Forward, sons of Rury ; forward, ho ! 
 " Grandsons of Woden; clans of Hu ; before us lies renown, 20 
 
 " Safety and strength and native laws ; revenge, and Erin's crown." 
 He said : and while with shouts on shouts the echoing heavens 
 were rent, 
 The mighty hosts with courage renewed, all with a one consent 
 
in.] Congal. 81 
 
 Moved onward. As a great black barque, compact of many a tree, 
 
 That, on her launch from some high beach, shoots down at once to sea ; 
 
 Or like as when, in time of thaw, a snow-drift deep and wide, 
 
 By strong winds in a hollow place lodged on a mountain side, 
 
 Fetches away with loosening crash ; or like as when, a cloud 5 
 
 Lumbering the sky, strong winds arise, and all the aerial crowd 
 
 Fall on at once ; it bulges, bursts, rolls out, and overspreads 
 
 The face of heaven with ominous gloom abave amazed men's heads ; 
 
 So ominously, so all at once, with clash and muttering jar, 
 
 Swift, dark, on Moyra's fated field rolled down the cloud of war. 10 
 
OONGAL 
 
 BOOK IV. 
 
 Sudden as wild-drake from his reeds beside the sedgy Bann, 
 
 Forth from his rushy covert flew swift- watchful Garrad Gann, 
 
 Scout of the North ; nor turned aside for dyke or mearing-mound, 
 
 Till, in the gorge of green Glen Ree, the King himself he found 
 
 With gathered Erin in his tents, fast camped, beside the fosse 5 
 
 That in the magic days of old the Black Boar scooped across 
 
 Orgallia's border : he who now, from dry land banished far, 
 
 No longer casts up rampart dykes to stem the tide of war, 
 
 But rooting round the island rocks where Brecan's cauldrons boil, 
 
 Turns up the ridgy-rolling sea with ever-fruitless toil ; 10 
 
 For fast as still with furrowing tusk he grooves the wave, so fast 
 
 The fluent-rising wave forbids to champ the illusive mast. 
 
 Said Garrad, " King, Clan-Congail comes : I saw Magabra's height 
 " At sunset flaming with his spears ; and all the woods in sight, 
 " Far as the lake-reflected light their passes gave to view, 15 
 
 " With arms and standards sparkling bright, and war-cars thronging 
 " through." 
 
iv.] Congal. 83 
 
 " What standards show they ?" said the King, " and in what order, 
 
 " say, 
 " Does my unhappy foster-son his impious aids array ?" 
 
 Said Garrad, " On his battle's right the standards were to see 
 " Of Alba's hosts in all the fields of frighted Aghalee ; 5 
 
 " While Lochlan's ravens, birds accurst in many a widow's dirge, 
 " Flapped o'er his far-extended left to green Kilultagh's verge. 
 " The ensigns of his middle front shone bright with silken sheen ; 
 " White, swarmed with golden bees, they were ; and men of warlike 
 
 " mien 10 
 
 " Long-hair'd and blue-eyed, marched beneath. Once, when 1 sailed 
 
 " beyond 
 " The Ictian sea, and saw, on march, the sons of Pharamond, 
 " (Twas on the Catalaunian plain, in dusty war-cloud rolled, 
 " They passed me as I rode the route King Dathi took of old), 15 
 
 " Such seemed the ensigns, and such seemed the fair, bee-blazon'd 
 
 "ranks: 
 " Wherefore I deem the centre-front of Congal's host are Franks ; 
 " Yet little-trusted, as I judge ; for close behind them came, 
 " Led by a lofty chief whose locks shone red as bickering flame, 20 
 
 " The fierce, sharp-vengeful, savage men of Britain ; and again 
 " Behind the Britons, over all, Ulster and Congal Claen." 
 
 Said Domnal, " While I live and reign, it never shall be said 
 " The hosts of Erin, with the King of Erin at their head, 
 
U Congal. [it. 
 
 " Sat in the shelter of a camp, or shunned the open ground, 
 " While foreign foe or rebel King within the realm was found. 
 " And since on Moyra openly their hosts encamp to-night, 
 " On Moyra openly at dawn shall Erin give them fight." 
 
 Whereon throughout the expectant camp's four quarters, Domnal 5 
 sped 
 The welcome word to arm and march ; and soon the measured tread 
 Of tramping legions told there passed by moor and quaking fen, 
 From Domnal's camp to Lagan bank, thrice twenty thousand men. 
 
 Arrived on Moyra's southern verge, beneath the stars they lay, 10 
 Wrapped in their warrior cloaks, till morn advanced her ensigns 
 grey. 
 
 Dawn-early, Domnal, — offering done, — athwart the dusky glade 
 In long-drawn battle, east and west, the royal host arrayed. 
 And this the order of the line. To left of all the field, 15 
 
 Fast flanked by forest and by fen, as by a natural shield, 
 Connacia kept the western wing : thence, stretching to the right, 
 The many-legioned Leinster hosts prolonged the beam of fight 
 To where, in midmost place of all, a plashed impervious wood 
 Embattled thick around himself, Meath's household phalanx stood. 20 
 Lea-Moha next in order fair took up the spiky line, 
 And bore it with a bristling edge to where your battle-sign, 
 Renowned Clan-Colla, flaunted high above the eastern wing: 
 Here, on the wide unsheltered wold, the careful-valiant King 
 
i v.J Congal 85 
 
 In mutual-succouring order close his Northern strength arrayed ; 
 First, Kindred-Owen; Orgiall next; to take or tender aid 
 When needful ; and beyond them both, as valour's meet reward, 
 You, clans of Conal, of them all the glory and the guard. 
 
 The hosts embattled, Domnal now, drawn in the royal car, 5 
 
 An Animating-Progress made down all the front of war ; 
 And first Connacia's host he spoke, 
 
 " Descendants of the brave 
 " Who from Ultonia once before, with cattle-plundering Maev, 
 " Bore spoil immense and deathless fame ; to you, of all the host, 10 
 
 " Is given the hero-coveted, much-envied, outmost post 
 " Of all the field. Maintain it well. My presence shall impart 
 " The conscious might of lawful power to every arm and heart. 
 " For wondrous is the might that clothes a true king's countenance, 
 " In life or death. Remember how, when through the fields of France IS 
 " Your sires the thunder-blackened limbs of glorious Dathi bore, 
 " No shelter from the Gauls' pursuit had they, from Alp to shore, 
 " But the dread visage of the King turned backward as they fled ; 
 "Yet safely sped they through them all, home, with their mighty 
 
 « dead. 20 
 
 " Third in descent again from whom, your Monarch, Owen Bel, 
 " Tomb'd, armed and facing to the foe, even as in fight he fell, 
 " Upon the Sligo's southern bank, throughout a year and day, 
 " By mere enchantment of his gaze, kept all the North at bay : 
 
86 Congal. [iv. 
 
 " Nor could their bravest cross the fords so overlooked, until 
 
 " They stole King Owen from his cairn, and northward by Loch Gill 
 
 " Tomb'd him, face-downward ; from which time the disenchanted 
 
 " fords 
 " Are won or lost, as greater might or less impels your swords. 5 
 
 " But here, with better auspices, you keep the battle-wing, 
 " To-day, in presence of a crowned and lawful living King." 
 
 The Crohan warriors, pleased to hear North-nurtured Domnal 
 
 learned 
 In legends of the distant West, a glorying shout returned. 10 
 
 Next where Hy-Mainy's haughty ranks, 'neath Grellan's staff 
 
 arrayed, 
 Stood ruddy in the reddening morn, the King his chariot stayed. 
 "Brave youths," said Domnal, "what although the breadth of 
 
 "Erin lies 15 
 
 " Between us and the splendid seats which under western skies 
 '' Ye wrested, by Saint Grellan's aid, from Bolgic hordes of yore, 
 " Ere Morne's and Colla's names were merged in name of Mainy Mor ? 
 " Yet neither lapse of time nor tract of distance can efface 
 " From Ulster's breast the glorious name of Cradle of your Race. 20 
 
 " Lo, yonder see the mountains blue, to whose recesses borne 
 " Your tide of overteeming life flowed out from full Cremorne, 
 " Ere yet lean Dartry's plenteous loins that mightier swarm sent forth 
 " To plant beyond smooth Shannon's flood the manhood of the North; 
 
iv.J Congal. 87 
 
 " Whence now returned, by many a plain and many a waving wood, 
 
 "As sea-run salmon that at last ascend the parent flood, 
 
 " All other bays and forelands pass'd, in needful hour ye come 
 
 " Exulting in your strength, to strike for kindred and for home. 
 
 " But exhortation none of mine need ye to whet the swords 5 
 
 " Oft edged to victory before by better-spoken words — 
 
 " ' Mighty men, sons of Mainy, 
 
 " ' By the Staff and its wonders 
 
 '"Ye bear for your banner, 
 
 " ' By the Crozier of Grellan 10 
 
 " ' Hy-Mainy's sole Standard ; 
 
 " ' That wand at whose waving 
 
 " ' The flower of the Firvolg, 
 
 '"Of old on Moy-Liagh, 
 
 " ' For their falsehood sank swallowed, 15 
 
 " ' Thirty hundred together, 
 
 " ' In a moment, without remnant, 
 
 " ' In the maw of the Moy : 
 
 " ' By your taxes, by your tributes, 
 
 " ' By your freely-offered firstlings 20 
 
 " ' On the door-sills of Kilcloony : 
 
 " By Grellan's own warrant, 
 
 " Saying ' surely while ye pay me 
 
 " ' My taxes and my tributes, 
 
88 Congal [iv. 
 
 " ' And exalt me my Crozier, 
 
 " ' God and I will give you conquest,' 
 
 " Now remember ye the manhood of the days of Mainy Mor.'' 
 
 Then all the pleased Hy-Manian host with loud and proud acclaim 
 Shouted ; and Domnal to the front of Leinster's legions came. 5 
 
 " Lagenians of the palm-broad spears," the Monarch' said, " and ye 
 " Fair-tunic'd warriors of Leix and festive Ossory, 
 " From you, in manhood's joyous prime, my gentle spouse I chose; 
 " To you, in age, I now assign the guardianship of those 
 " Five war-accomplished youths, our sons, whom 'mid your ranks 10 
 
 " enrolled, 
 " In duty's place, with proud delight I even now behold. 
 " My Fergus fair ; my Angus dear ; my Erril Open-Hand ; 
 " My Carril, and my Colgu gay. Be ye a rallying band 
 " Impervious round the youths beloved ; that, when our work is done, 13 
 " The anxious mother may again embrace each princely son." 
 
 Proud Leinster closer round the youths arrayed her spear-thick 
 hedge ; 
 And warranted with warrior oaths the safety of the pledge. 
 
 Next with the allied Firvolg ranks, where 'mid the florid Gael 20 
 They darkly showed, King Domnal stayed, and bade the slim ones 
 hail. 
 
 " Clans of the Martin unsubdued ; sole remnants of your race 
 " Who, 'mid the elsewhere conquering Gael, retain your ancient place ; 
 
iv.] Congal. 89 
 
 " Think not I deem you strangers come to render service due 
 
 " To stranger masters : no, ye come as -willing kinsmen true 
 
 " To aid your kindly cousin Scots against the alien throng 
 
 " Of Lochlan and the Gentile Gauls. The sacred Poet's song 
 
 " And learned Historian's tale agree, that from one parent stem, 5 
 
 " Scyth, Agathyrs and Gelon sprang ; and sprung direct from them 
 
 " The Scot, the Pict, and Bolgmen come ; who, in their several 
 
 " turns, 
 "To Erin came; and you the first, escaped the galling scorns 
 " Of Thracian tyrants, and the toil immense in leathern bags 10 
 
 " Of carrying soil to fertilise the terraced mountain crags; 
 " And here, through full a thousand years of freedom and of fame, 
 " Nought of your former servile state remembered but the name, 
 " You 've held the lands that still ye hold, and proved superior still 
 " In every art of elegance and work of graceful skill ; 15 
 
 " For which old patrimonial lands, and for the homes made bright 
 " By these hereditary arts, we stand to-day in fight, 
 " Firvolg and Gael in one accord; all Erin in a band 
 " Against the robbers of the sea and traitors of the land." 
 
 The light of darkly-kindling eyes and fervid faces glanced 20 
 
 Down all the beaming Bolgic line, while Domnal next advanced 
 To speak the household Meathian troops. 
 
 " Ye men of Meath," said he, 
 "Are witness that this day's debate has not been sought by me. 
 
 K 
 
90 Congal. [iV. 
 
 " Whate'er a King with honor might, I offered Congal Claen ; 
 
 " And offered oft; which he, as oft, rejected with disdain, 
 
 " Demanding crowns and kingdoms back which have not, since the 
 
 " days 
 " Of the three Collas, appertained to any of his race. 5 
 
 " Three hundred years and three and one, it is, since, at the date 
 " Three hundred-thirty-three from Christ, these three laid desolate 
 " Emania, Ulster's royal seat till then, and over-ran 
 " All that Clan Rury theretofore to westward of the Bann 
 " And southward of the Yewry held ; from which time hitherto 10 
 
 " Ultonia's bounds embrace no more than at this day they do, 
 " From Mourne to Rathlin : small the tract : yet in that little space 
 " Ambition how exorbitant, how huge a pride has place ! 
 " And from Clan-Colla, in their turn, a hundred years have flown, 
 " Since Earca's son, Murkertach, won Tyrconnell a?id Tyrone ; 15 
 
 " O'er which Rudrician ne'er shall reign. So nothing at our hands 
 " Remains to give King Congal but the battle he demands." 
 
 "Battle for battle ! Spear for spear ! " from thousand throats upflew 
 The voice of fight-accepting Meath. The Monarch, in review, 
 Thence passed along Lea Moha's line. 20 
 
 " Sons of the South," he said ; 
 " Thus far beneath our Northern stars with fearless steps ye tread, 
 " Remembering, as beseems your race, the olden glorious days 
 " When Curoi and his Ernaan Knights divided Erin's praise 
 
Iv ] Congal. 91 
 
 " With all our bravest of the Branch. On Cahir-Conroi's crest 
 
 " The hero from his tomb looks down where 'neath the glowing west 
 
 " The strand of Ventry shines at eve : again the hollow roar 
 
 " Of trampling tides is in his ears : locked on the level floor 
 
 " The glorious wrestlers stamp the sands : let come the waves : let 6 
 
 " burst 
 " All ocean downward on their heads : none parts his hold, till first 
 " He casts the invader to his feet. The invading galleys ride 
 " Regardant on the heaving blue, behind the white-maned tide : 
 " The white-maned, proud-neck-arching tide leaps to their feet ; it leaps 10 
 '' Around their arms ; it leaps with might above expiring heaps 
 " Of Gauls and Gaels in mutual clasp washed o'er the wreck-strewn 
 
 " sands, 
 " Where drowned they rather than desert their first defensive stands. 
 " Such heroes hath Momonia nursed ; Momonia's sacred shore 15 
 
 " By you defended, grates beneath invading keels no more : 
 " But, driven from hero-guarded coasts, our new invaders swarm 
 " In Ulster's unprotected ports : yet, even here, thine arm, 
 " Momonia, reaching all the length of Erin through, shall draw 
 " Mac Daire's blade again, and make a Ventry at Moy-rah." 20 
 
 Well pleased, Momonia's warriors heard the Monarch's flattering 
 words ; 
 And Domnal to Clan-Colla came. 
 
 " Kinsmen, illustrious lords 
 
92 Congal. [iv. 
 
 " Of Orgiall," said he: " since the day our three forefathers stood 
 
 " In Tara's wine-hall, to provoke to shedding of their blood 
 
 " King Muredach (for, 'mongst the four, whiche'er should first be 
 
 " slain, 
 " With his posterity the crown was destined to remain) ; 5 
 
 " No day has risen so full of need for Eochaid Domlan's race 
 " As this which now above our heads begins to rise apace. 
 "In Tara's wine-hall, 'mid his guards, they came before the throne, 
 " Unbid, from Alba: in their train nine haggard men alone, 
 " Survivors of three hundred youths condemned in bleak Cantyre 10 
 " To expiate the secret stroke that slew the Monarch's sire. 
 " Amid their snows the vision came, at midnight, in their tent ; 
 " To each the same it seemed ; and said, ' Up ; hence, incontinent : 
 " ' Seek ye the son of him ye slew, at Tara, where a crown 
 " ' Waits the first self-devoting hand will pluck the peril down ' 15 
 
 " Back sped the three through sleet and spray ; nor stretched they 
 
 " side until 
 " They stood upon the wine-hall floor of Tara's royal hill. 
 " ' What tidings, now, from Alba, sirs ?' exclaimed the wondering King : 
 " Said Colla Uais, ' King Muredach, the tidings that I bring 20 
 
 " ' Are these : this hand it was did slay thy father ; and this head, 
 " ' As good as his, is here to take in eric for the dead.' 
 " Said Coll da-Cree, ' This hand it was did aid my brother dear 
 " ' To take thy father's head ; and, see, a better head is here.' 
 
iv.J Congal. 93 
 
 " Said Colla Menn, ' Behold the head, best of the three, that plann'd 
 
 " ' The work of slaughter well achieved by either brother's hand :' 
 
 " And nearer pressed, to court the stroke: but Muredach withdrew 
 
 " His hand approaching to the hilt; for on his memory grew 
 
 " Remembrance clear of what the seer in visioned trance had said, 5 
 
 " That 'mongst four cousins, in that hall, who first should lose his head, 
 
 " His childrens' should the crown remain : wherefore his hand he 
 
 " stayed, 
 " And answered, ' This magnanimous avowal ye have made 
 " ' Atones for all. Behold, the North, — where rude Clan Rury's lords 10 
 " ' Revolt against my lawful rents, — lies open to your swords. 
 " ' Win there a kingdom for yourselves, where'er ye will and can, 
 " ' From proud Emania to the sea ; from Farsad to the Bann ; 
 '' ' Myself shall furnish forth a host.' Said Colla Uais, ' Our laws 
 " 'Forbid that, even to gain a crown, we war without a cause.' 15 
 
 " ' And is it not, then, cause enough, or have ye never heard,' 
 '' Said Muredach, ' how Black-Tooth's slave did singe thy grandsire's 
 
 " beard 
 "' In this same hall ? Still unavenged that insult.' ' 'Twill suffice,' 
 " Said Colla Uais. ' In conquest's case needs never reason nice.' 20 
 
 " And so, exchanging issues dark of doubtful prophecy 
 " For even chance of open war, with Tara's host, the Three 
 " Invaded Ulster that same year; and, ere the year was spent, 
 " In green Cremorne sat Coll da-Cree, a prince magnificent. 
 
94 Congal. [ 
 
 IV. 
 
 " Great lords from all their loins have sprung ; Kings from the loins 
 
 " of some, 
 " And other mightier monarchs thence are destined yet to come : 
 " Yea, though perchance in after days forgetful of their stem, 
 " The rulers of the Western world shall draw their race from them. 5 
 " And thou, Malodhar, eldest born and noblest of them all, 
 " This day must hold or lose the lands so won by mighty Coll : 
 " For, other cause of enmity proud Congal Claen has none 
 " Than this, that I refuse to strip Clan-Colla of its own ; 
 " And have confirmed, and do hereby, as far as in me lies, 10 
 
 " Confirm Malodhar of Armagh in all the seignories 
 " Won by his sires, as I have told. And, Ultan Long-Hand, thou 
 " Who rulest Orior, his sub-King, yea, all who hear me now, 
 " Remember, that not mine alone the fortune, that endures 
 " Or passes with this day's event, but his, and thine, and yours." 15 
 
 " King," said Malodhar, " have no fear : the voice of Fate that 
 
 " gave 
 •' The Collas in Can tyre their call to cross the wintry wave, 
 " To thee alike assigns the realm of Erin, and to me 
 " Orgallia's rule subordinate, in perpetuity. 20 
 
 " Nor other change will Erin feel from Congal's mad essay 
 " That this, belike, that Orgiall's bounds, meared by Glen Ree to-day, 
 " May march to-morrow with the sea ; for so the license ran, 
 " ' From proud Emania to the sea ; from Farsad to the Bann.' " 
 
iv.] Congal. 95 
 
 " Conquer thy wish ;" discreetly said the prudent King, aloud. 
 But also said, " This under-King is somewhat over-proud." 
 
 So pondering, to the Kinel-Owen, his own familiar clan, 
 He came, and, still his ancient lore recalling, thus began : 
 
 " Twin branches of one 3> stately stem are Conal's race and yours, 5 
 " Children of Owen ; at one birth our great progenitors 
 " Owen and Conal Gulban, sons of many-hostaged JNeal, 
 " Sprang from one womb : one blessing both of holy Patrick's zeal 
 " Had in one cradle : equal power through Erin far and wide 
 " By blessed Kearnach, from one bed, for both was prophesied ; 10 
 
 " When to their hands the dying saint confided Patrick's Bell 
 " And Columb's Gospels ; charging them, as oft as it befell 
 " That either martial tribe should stand in combat's ordered line, 
 " That Bell or Book should ever be its proper battle-sign. 
 " And promised, oft as either host, arrayed as now ye are, 16 
 
 " Should muster for defensive fight or just aggressive war, 
 " The Word of saving Truth with them, the Tongue of Power with you 
 " Respectively, that victory should all your steps pursue : — 
 " A prophecy in part fulfilled ; in ampler measure still 
 " Remaining for a riper day of glory to fulfil. 
 " This present day well nigh brings round an even hundred years 
 " Since, in his just aggressive war, Murkertach's western spears 
 " Flashed thro' Clan-Colla's broken bounds, in cantred-covering sweep, 
 " From Erne to smooth Mayola's meads and proud Ben-Evenagh's steep : 
 
 20 
 
96 Congal. [iv. 
 
 " And so it is ; one century, if but to-day's event 
 
 " March with the words of prophecy, shall see your tribe's extent 
 
 " Meted by mountain, and by sea : for surely never yet 
 
 " Was juster war defensive waged than this, wherein, beset 
 
 " As deer in hunter's narrowing ring, or ring'd bull at his stake, 5 
 
 " We needs must fight for leave to live, if not for glory's sake. 
 
 " Behold, there breathes not on the earth the creature born so base 
 
 " But will, to spending of its life, defend its dwelling-place ; 
 
 " Be it the wolf's leaf-bedded lair, the rook's dark tops of trees, 
 
 " Or bare shelf of the barren rock, where, over yeasty seas, 10 
 
 " The artless gull intends her brood; and baser than the beasts 
 
 " Were we, if, having to defend our homes of love, our feasts 
 
 " Of joyous friendship, our renown, our freedom, and above 
 
 " All else, our heavenly heritage of Christ's redeeming love, 
 
 " From this rude inroad unprovoked of Gentile robbers, we 15 
 
 ■' Fought not the fight of valiant men to all extremity ; 
 
 " As well beseeming those for whom the sacred lay was sung : 
 
 " ' Lo, the perverse Pagan remnant 
 
 " ' And the God-denying Gentile, 
 
 " ' Linked in mischief, would deprive us 20 
 
 " ' Of our hope and of our solace 
 
 " ' 'Neath the noble tree of shelter 
 
 " ' Planted here by holy Patrick. 
 
 " ' Would uproot it ; lay it prostrate ; 
 
iv.J Congal. ( .)7 
 
 " ' And, amid its broken branches, 
 
 " ' Re-erect the fanes of demons. 
 
 " ' How blind ; how unthankful 
 
 " ' Are the insolent ungodly ! 
 
 " ' When they walk with cool footsteps, 5 
 
 " ' In the dews of morn and even, 
 
 " ' Mid the tender blade providing 
 
 " 'Meat and drink for men in season, 
 
 " ' Then laud they their ploughshares, 
 
 " ' Then exult they in their oxen ; 10 
 
 " ' But their hearts have no refreshment 
 
 " ' From the hot airs unwholesome 
 
 " ' Of hate and of ambition. 
 
 " ' From the felon flood escaping 
 
 " ' In their rough-rocking galleys, 15 
 
 " ' They say, ha ! strong cordage, 
 
 " ' Brave mast, and good anchor: 
 
 " ' But they deem not He who keepeth 
 
 " ' The wind in His palm-hollow 
 
 " ' Hears their boasting, and abhors them. 20 
 
 " ' But God shall the proud ones, 
 
 " ' The rebellious, the unfaithful, 
 
 " ' Behold with derision 
 
 " ' In the dark hour tremendous 
 
98 Cungal. [iv. 
 
 " ' Of death and of departure ; 
 
 " ' When, mad with blank horror, 
 
 " ' They sink, they know not whither, 
 
 " ' Dizzy down into perdition.' 
 
 " Up, God ! and let the foes of God, and them that hate him, fly : g 
 
 " As wax consumes within the fire, as smoke within the sky, 
 
 " So let them melt and perish quite : but he who loves Thy laws 
 
 " His head in battle cover Thou, and vindicate his cause." 
 
 " Amen," Oloc-Patrick's clerks replied; and clear above the swell 
 Of thousand hoarse-applauding throats, was heard the Standard-Bell. 10 
 
 Last to his own illustrious tribe, though first in power and fame, 
 In danger's gap, to right of all the embattled hosts, he came. 
 
 " Kinsmen," he said, " to other tribes I 've offered, on my way, 
 " Words of incitement to renown ; as fitting for the day 
 " Just rising on so great a strife as, since the days of Con 15 
 
 " The Hundred-Battled, morning sun has never looked upon. 
 " But from these hortative harangues, — since vain were the attempt 
 " To add to valour infinite, — Clan-Conail stands exempt. 
 " For why, what says the noble verse? — 
 
 " ' Clan-Conail for the battle no 
 
 " ' Never needed other prompting 
 " ' Than the native manly vigor 
 " ' Of a King-descended people, 
 " ' Whose own exulting prowess, 
 
IV J Congal. 99 
 
 " ' Whose own fight-glorying valour, 
 
 " ' And old ancestral choler, 
 
 " ' And hot blood overboiling, 
 
 " ' Are war-goads self-sufficing. 
 
 " ' Would'st see them war-excited? 5 
 
 " ' Would'st see the Clans of Enna 
 
 " ' Let loose their native fury ? 
 
 " 'Would'st see the Sons of Conang 
 
 " ' How they look in time of slaughter ? 
 
 " ' Sil-Angus at their spear-sport, 10 
 
 " ' Sil-Fidrach at their sword-play, 
 
 " 'Sil-Ninid rout-enforcing, 
 
 " ' Sil-Setna panic-pouring? 
 
 " ' Set before them then the faces 
 
 " ' Of foemen in their places, 15 
 
 " ' With lances levelled ready, 
 
 " ' And the battle, grim and bloody, 
 
 " ; Coming onward o'er the tramp-resounding plain : 
 
 " ' But insult not Conal's nation 
 
 " ' With a battle-exhortation 20 
 
 " ' When with battle's self their hands you entertain.' 
 
 " And lo, the very valour-rousing sight the Bard prescribes 
 
 " Presents itself before our eyes ; for yonder Congal's tribes 
 
 " Begin to move. Up Book, and march ! God and Columba be 
 
 " Your wanted warrant that ye march to glorious victory!" 
 
100 Congat. [iv. 
 
 And, as when fire by chance has caught a furzy mountain-side, 
 Behind its bickering front of flame, in blackness swift and wide, 
 The spreading ruin onward rolls ; so down King Domnal's van, 
 Flashed back from glittering helm and shield, the morning radiance 
 
 ran; 5 
 
 So, dark hehind their fiery front, in far evolving throng 
 The enlarging legions spread, and poured their serried strength along. 
 
 And as, again, when Lammas floods from echoing uplands go 
 Down hurrying to the quaking vale that toils in foam below ; 
 So wide, so deep, so terrible, so spreading, swift and vast, 10 
 
 With tempest-tramp from Congal's camp the adverse columns pass'd : 
 Every phalanx like a castle ; every captain, at its head, 
 Like pillar of a castle-gate, when camping Kings have spread 
 Their leaguer to the rampart-foot, and pick and broad-axe play 
 Rebounding on the sounding plank that holds the war at bay. 15 
 
 Ah ! many a brave young son was there, to hang on whose broad 
 breast 
 Was joy to the proud mother; many a brother much caressed 
 By white-arm'd smiling sisters ; many a lover who yet bore 
 The parting kiss from virgin lips his lips should meet no more ; 20 
 
 And sons who stood by fathers' sides, with pious ardour warm, 
 Each deeming death were well incurred to shield that head from harm, 
 Blooming in love and manly strength ; and many a faithful pair 
 Of milk-united fosterers and ancient friends was there. 
 
iv.J Congal. 101 
 
 Swiftly they cleared the narrowing space of plain ground interposed ; 
 And, bearing each an even front, from wing to wing they closed. 
 A shudder at the closing shock thrill'd through the grassy plain, 
 And all the sedgy-sided pools of Lagan sighed again. 
 
 In balanced scale, in even fight, — no thought on either side 5 
 
 Of yielding back, — the eager hosts their work of battle plied, 
 Stern, dark, intense, incessant, as forging smiths that smite 
 In order on the stithy head through spark-showers hailing white. 
 And, as when woodsmen to their work, through copse and stubble go, 
 Grasping the supple red-skinned twigs with darting bill-hooks, so 10 
 With frequent grasp and deadly grip plucked from their slippery stand, 
 They went continual to the earth : the grassy-vestured land, 
 Stamped into dust, beneath them glowed ; the clear fresh morning air 
 Vexed with the storm of whirling arms, and tossing heads and hair, 
 Around them reeked ; while, overhead, in dense unwholesome pall, 15 
 A sweat-and-blood-engendered mist rose steaming over all. 
 
 Dire was the front-rank warriors' case ; nor, in their deadly need, 
 Did son of father longer think, or friend of friend take heed ; 
 But each deemed all the strength and skill his prowess could command 
 But scant enough to serve the need that claimed his proper hand ; 20 
 Fresh hands with deadlier-wielded blades, new foes with angrier frown, 
 Succeeding ceaseless in the front, fast as the old went down. 
 
 Fed from behind the ranks renewed: from these continual fed 
 The intermediate heaps increased. Still no man turned or fled 
 
102! Congal. [it. 
 
 Till on the Dalaradian King, unhappy Sweeny, fell 
 The terrors of a dreadful fate, in manner strange to tell. 
 
 To Sweeny, as the hosts drew near, ere yet the fight should join, 
 Seemed still as if between them rolled the foam-strown tawny Boyne : 
 And as the swiftly-nearing hosts consumed the narrowing space, 5 
 
 And arrow-flights and javelin-casts and sword-strokes came in place, 
 Through all the rout of high-raised hands and wrathful glaring eyes, 
 Erc's look of wrath and lifted hand before him seemed to rise ; 
 Through all the hard-rebounding din from breasts of Gaels and Gauls, 
 That jarred against the vault of heaven, when clashed the brazen walls, 10 
 Throughall the clangorous battle-calls and death-shouts hoarse and high, 
 Erc's shriller curse he seemed to hear and Erc's despairing cry. 
 Much did the hapless warrior strive to shake from breast and brain 
 The illusion and the shameful wish fast rising, but in vain ; 
 The wish to fly seized all his limbs ; the stronger dread of shame 15 
 
 Contending with the wish to fly, made spoil of all his frame. 
 His knees beneath him wavered, as if shaken by the stress 
 Of a rapid-running river : his heart, in fear's excess, 
 Sprang to and fro within him, as a wild bird newly-caged, 
 Or a stream-ascending salmon in a strong weir's trap engaged. 2 ° 
 
 Room for escape the field had none : and Sweeny there had died 
 Perforce in front ; his shame unknown ; his name a word of pride 
 To all his race, for many a feat of valour nobly done, 
 And much renown from conquered Chiefs in former battles won; 
 
iv.J Congal. 103 
 
 But that the terror in his soul at length to madness grew, 
 
 And, with a maniac's strength of ten, he burst the rere rank through, 
 
 And fled in presence of both hosts. 
 
 So light and swift he ran, 
 It seemed as if exalting fear had left, of all the man, s 
 
 Only the empty outward show. Then many cried to slay 
 The flying Chief ; but Ardan stood between : 
 
 " Insane ones, stay 
 " Your idle impious shafts," he cried ; " no coward's flight is here ; 
 " But sacred frenzy sent from Heaven. The wings of vulgar fear 10 
 " Ne'er lifted weight-sustaining feet along the airy ways 
 " In leaps like these : but ecstasies there be of soul, that raise 
 " Men's bodies out of Earth's constraint ; and, so exalted, he 
 " Acquires the sacred Omad's name, and gains immunity 
 " From every earthly violence. 'Twas thus Wood Merlin gained 15 
 
 " His seership on Arderidd field: else Britain had remained 
 " Still unenriched of half her lore. So, turn you, and engage 
 " Your spears where men who fly you not, await your juster rage." 
 
 So Ardan counselled ; and the line of battle stood renewed, 
 While Sweeny o'er the distant plain his lonely flight pursued, 20 
 
 Noiseless, as flits, at daylight-gone, the level-coasting crane. 
 
 Meantime, on Moyra, shout and clang of battle rose again, 
 As, singling from the vulgar sort, the chiefs of note began 
 In feats of separate hardihood, to mingle in the van. 
 
104 Congal. [iv; 
 
 And first the royal sons who led the allied Alban host, 
 Despite the strength of circling quags and Dathi's guardian ghost, 
 Thrice on Connacia's line of fight, four island ospreys flew, 
 And twice and thrice with grasp of might broke Grellan's staff in two. 
 But at their third swift-swooping charge, where Leinster stood arrayed 5 
 Beneath her four Provincial Kings, their course was rudely stayed. 
 Which four illustrious Kings who led the Broad-spear ranks, were these ; 
 First, Cairbre Crom, the wealthy lord of tunic-bleaching Leix ; 
 Next, haughty Aulay of the Ships, who exercised his rule 
 Where hurdle-causeways span the mire of Liffey's dusky pool ; 10 
 
 Argnadach next, whose grassy dun o'er green Hy-Drone presides 
 Where bright by brown Bahana wood the fishful Barrow glides ; 
 And lastly Ailill, hapless lord of wide domains, for whom 
 Hy-Faily's serfs no more need till the sunny slopes of Bloom. 
 These four before the Albanian four their armoured breasts opposed, 15 
 And straight the eight in fell debate, for life and glory, closed. 
 
 But valiant though these Leinster Kings, and war-accomplished too, 
 'Twas not for them the royal hope of Alba to subdue, 
 Who oft had trained adventurous arms on Saxon and on Gaul, 
 With brass-hook'd halbard oft had plucked the Briton from his wall ; 20 
 And oft, twixt beetling brow above and slippery brink below, 
 Had wrestled with the Fortren Pict, knee-deep in Grampian snow. 
 Argnadach, first, beneath the spear of Aed Green-Mantle died ; 
 Tall Ailill next lay stretched in death, by Sweeny, at his side ; 
 
iv.] Congul. . 105 
 
 To Domnal of the Freckled Brow imperious Aulay then 
 Resigned his head ; and Cairbre Crom succumbed to Congal Menn. 
 
 When Domnal's own illustrious sons beheld the carnage made 
 Of Leinster's leaders, to the front they also sprang in aid : 
 Fergus and Angus side by side ; young Errill Open-Hand, 5 
 
 Carril and Colgu ; fire to four : the war-flushed conquering band 
 Of Alban brothers, four to five, as loud the Princes cried 
 " Sons of the King of Erin here," with louder shout replied, 
 " Sons here of Alba's mightier King, to match them, man to man." 
 And, three at once selecting three, an equal strife began ; 10 
 
 Equal in youth ; in royal birth, in eager warlike will, 
 Equal ; and in the athlete's art and warrior's deadly skill, 
 Alas ! too equal ; for, ere long, by many a mutual wound, 
 Each slain by each, three princely pairs pressed all the equal ground. 
 But Domnal Brec, by Carril and by Oolgu both assailed, 15 
 
 Although 'gainst either single foe he had in fight prevailed, 
 Withstood not their conjoint attack : but, casting down his shield, 
 Said, " Cousins, I claim benefit of gossipred, and yield." 
 So, leaving there the princely six stretched 'mongst the common 
 
 dead, 
 Carril and Colgu to the King their Alban captive led. 
 Then thus the captive Domnal said, 
 
 " Oh King, these youthful sons 
 " Have done me warrior-wrong in both assailing me at once ; 
 
 20 
 
106 Congal. [lv. 
 
 "Which is no deed of princely-nurtured youths: and therefore, I 
 
 " Am put to plea of fosterage and consanguinity ; 
 
 " Shewing unto your Clemency, my father Eochaid Buie 
 
 " Was foster-son of Columb-Kill, the son of Felimy, 
 
 " The cousin of thy father Aed : wherefore, oh King, I claim 5 
 
 " Safety and ransom at thy hands in holy Columb's name." 
 
 " And in that venerable name," said Domnal — and he crossed 
 His breast devoutly as he spoke, — " thy suit shall not be lost : 
 "For precious-sweet at every time the ties of nurture are, 
 " But most so when they mitigate, as now, the woes of war : 10 
 
 " Woes which beseems not that a King in battle-armour dressed 
 " Should further speak of, here a-field. But Thou who seest my breast, 
 " Thou knowest, oh God, how sharper far than foe's dividing brand — 
 " My Fergus fair; my Angus dear ; my Erril Open-Hand ! — 
 "Are this day's pangs of death and shame. But, Kinsman, for thy 15 
 
 '' share, 
 " A goshawk for a captured King, subdued in fight impair, 
 " Shall answer all the ransomer's need. And, for the wrong thee done, 
 " Thou shalt, in duel, have amends ; if either culprit son 
 " Escape the labour of to-day." 20 
 
 And therefore so it was 
 That Freckled Domnal, set at large, for the abovesaid cause, 
 Which neither Prince might contravene, though for the issue loth, 
 In equal single combat had the conquest of them both ; 
 
IV.] Corujal. 107 
 
 Yet neither slew ; but gave their lives in barter of his own : 
 
 Which Freckled Domnal afterwards sat on the Alban throne, 
 
 A famous sovereign : and his race in Yellow Eochaid's hall 
 
 Reigned after him ; till Selvach, son of Fercar, named the Tall, 
 
 To proud Dunolly's new-built burg transferred the royal chair. 5 
 
 (Twas in his time Columba's Clerks, because they would not bare 
 
 The head-top to the tonsuring shears of Ceolfrid, neither count 
 
 Their Easters by the Roman moons, were sent beyond the Mount 
 
 By Necton and his Fortren Picts ; when, in the Gael's despite, 
 
 His Saxon builders, from the Tyne, brought North the general rite.) 10 
 
 And after Selvach, once again to shift the wandering throne, 
 
 Came conquering Kenneth Alpinson, the first who sat at Scone, 
 
 Full King of Scotland, Gael and Pict ; whose seat to-day we see 
 
 A third time moved, there permanent and glorious to be, 
 
 Where, in Westminster's sacred aisles, the Three-Joined-Realm awards 15 
 
 Its meed of solemn sepulture to Captains and to Bards ; 
 
 And to the hands pre-designate of awful right, confides 
 
 The Sceptre that confers the sway o'er half of ocean's sides. 
 
 But Domnal's brothers in one grave on Irish Moyra lie ; 
 
 And to this day the place from them is called Cairn-Albany. 20 
 
 The hardy Saxon little recks what bones beneath decay, 
 
 But sees the cross-signed pillar stone, and turns his plough away. 
 
 So on the battle's western verge the doubtful strife was waged : 
 Meantime, upon King Congal's left, the Frankish host engaged 
 
108 Congal. [lV. 
 
 Clan-Conail ; and Clan-Conail marched o'er prostrate Franks, until 
 
 They pressed the battle to the plain beneath the very hill 
 
 Where ranked the warrior-hosts of Mourne. Halt Kellach in his chair 
 
 Placed on the summit of the slope, sat 'midst his bravest there : 
 
 And, as a hunter, having his dogs leashed on a rising ground, o 
 
 A tall stag drinking in the vale, slips swift hound after hound ; 
 
 Or as a man who practises against a mark, hurls forth 
 
 Dart after dart ; or as a youth whose time is little worth, 
 
 Goat-herd or poet idly bent, from some bald sea-cliffs crown 
 
 Dislodges fragments of the rock, to send them rolling down, 10 
 
 And claps his hands to see them leap, as, gathering speed, they go 
 
 With high whirls smoking to the foot ; with such fierce rapture so 
 
 Son after son the Halt one sent, and smoking charge on charge 
 
 Hurled down from Augnafoskar's brow against the glittering marge 
 
 Of levelled spear and burnished targe that, 'mid the throng below, 15 
 
 Marked where Clan-Conail's front advanced o'er Frankland's overthrow. 
 
 But neither swift Cu-Carmoda, for all his greyhound spring, 
 
 Nor headlong Anlach hurling down with force of javelin-fling, 
 
 Nor Brasil bounding from his bank with crash of whirling crag 
 
 Could bend the steadfast beam of fight stretch'd out beneath thy flag, 20 
 
 Oh son of Baedan ; but, as dogs entangled 'mong the brakes, 
 
 Or mark-short darts that by the butts uplift their quivering stakes, 
 
 Or rolling rocks that at the foot break into pieces small, 
 
 So clung, transfixed ; so, sounding, broke against that brazen wall 
 
rv.J Congal 109 
 
 Charge after charge. But as a pack of curled waves clamouring on 
 
 Divide and ride to either side, resurging, round a stone 
 
 That makes the tide-mark ; or as storms, rebounding from the breast 
 
 Of some impassive mountain huge, go raving forth in quest 
 
 Of things prehensible, broad oaks, or wide-eaved homes of men, 5 
 
 To wreak their wrath on ; bellowing forth from every hollow glen 
 
 That girds the mighty mountain foot, they on the open vale 
 
 Issue tremendous : groan the woods : the trembling mothers pale 
 
 Beneath their straining rafters crouch, or, driven from hut and hall, 
 
 Hie to the covert of some rock or rock-built castle wall : 10 
 
 So Brasil's battle, burst in twain against the steadfast face 
 
 Of Kinel-Conail, still pursued, oblique, its headlong race 
 
 Past the impenetrable ranks ; and, swift as winter wind, 
 
 Fell thundering down the lanes of death, on Orgiall's host behind. 
 
 Clan-Colla split before the shock : Clan-Brassilagh poured in ; 15 
 
 And dire confusion filled the plain, and dreadful grew the din. 
 
 Grief and great heat of anger filled the breast of Congal Claen 
 When tidings reached him that the sons of Eochaid Buie were slain. 
 Till now, with Conan by his side, the King had, from his car, 
 Ordained the onsets of the hosts, and overseen the war. 20 
 
 Now, " Conan, noble friend," he said, " whate'er at either's hand 
 " The duty of a field-arraying sovereign can demand 
 " We see accomplished; and the time is come when thou and I 
 " Are free to feed our proper souls with war's satiety ; 
 
110 Congal. [iv. 
 
 '» Thou to achieve increase of fame amid the warlike throng, 
 
 " And I to sate enormous hate bred by a life of wrong. 
 
 " Lo, where the generous Alban chiefs, who, for the love they bore 
 
 " Me, hapless wretch, left all they loved on lone Loch Etive's shore, 
 
 " Lie wrapped in death or deadlier bonds. There lies the path for thee u 
 
 " To reinstate our battle's right; and fame and fortune be 
 
 •' Attendant with thee. Leave to me this Northern robber horde 
 
 " Whose march insulting on our left needs some robuster sword 
 
 " Than aged Kellach's : he, I judge, will not long sit at ease, 
 
 " Unless with some impediment of weightier mould than these 10 
 
 "I bar the access to his chair. Farewell a while; and now 
 
 " For vengeance I and destiny; for fame and friendship thou." 
 
 As lightning that divides a bolt forkwise in upper air, 
 To left and right, from Congal's car, forth sprang the glittering pair. 
 First on Connacia's shaken ranks impetuous Conan flew. 15 
 
 Four chiefs in turn engaged him there. All these the hero slew ; 
 And the lopp'd head of each in turn took from the collar'd neck ; 
 Sweeny, to wit ; Aed Alen, Aed Buie and Eccad Brec; 
 In rough Tir-Eera Sweeny ruled, the son of Carrach he ; 
 Aed Alen in Moy-Eola ; in Hy-Mainy, Aed the Buie ; 20 
 
 In castled Leyny, Eccad Brec. These Conan Rodd subdued ; 
 And Welshmen, with him, of the rest a mighty multitude. 
 
 Meanwhile the main Britannic host 'neath Conan Finn arrayed, 
 Who, midmost, fought the men of Meath, much missed true Conan's aid. 
 
iv.J Congal. Ill 
 
 He of the Gates of Heart of Oak had freely, as became 
 One who in Congal's choice of Kings the second place might claim, 
 Followed his glorious judge to war ; and now with loyal heart 
 Matched against Kellach Mor performed a valiant warrior's part. 
 
 Son of Malcova, erewhile King, was Kellach : nephew so 5 
 
 Of Domnal ; and of all who came to Congal's overthrow, 
 Conall Mac-Baedan sole except, in prowess and renown 
 Foremost ; and destined afterwards, himself, to wear the crown. 
 With him contended Conan Finn : but Kellach lopped his head, 
 And cast it to his shouting friends : then mingled rage and dread 10 
 
 Fell on the thick- Welsh-speaking host ; and forth in reckless rage 
 Three cousins of the vanquished chief sprang, eager to engage 
 The victor ; Howel, Arthur, Rees ; together forth they sprung 
 And with three far-exulting leaps their spears together flung ; 
 And with three mutual-echoing shouts their blades together drew : 15 
 But Kellach from the collared necks of these three sons of HA 
 Took their respective glittering spoils, and, holding up the same, 
 Said, " Who will stake another cast upon the noble game?" 
 
 There marched that day 'mong Congal's host a valiant-hearted 
 man, 20 
 
 But little-bodied, Fermorc Becc: he, standing in the van, 
 Beheld his allies' fate, and heard the conqueror's taunting call, 
 And said, 
 
 " Although thou be the Great, and though I be the Small, 
 
112 Congal. [iv. 
 
 " Yet have I seen it so befall, oh Kellach, that, at play, 
 " The puniest piece upon the board has borne the prize away : 
 " And for that glorious prize, thy head — and I shall lay it low 
 " Right soon, — I play this cast, and stake my life upon the throw." 
 
 He played his spear-cast manfully ; no man of all the host 5 
 
 Could but admire : but, gamesomely, the prize he played for, lost. 
 Then many hearts beat thick, and tears from Borne stern eyes there 
 
 broke 
 At seeing dauntless Fermorc stand to bide the answering stroke. 
 But generous Kellach, with a smile, reversed his lifted spear, 15 
 
 And 'mid the laughter of the hosts pushed Fermorc to the rere. 
 The soul of Fermorc swelled with shame ; and but that eager bands 
 Of friends all round restrained him, he had on himself laid hands. 
 
 Such feats of arms by Conan Rodd and Kellach Mor were done 
 To right and centre of the field. Meantime 'the royal son 10 
 
 Of Scallan Broad-Shield, on the left, in gloomy- vengeful wrath, 
 At head of Ulster, toward the host of Conal held his path. 
 
 As when a grampus makes among the ripple-raising shoals 
 Of landward-coasting ocean-fry, the parted water rolls 
 Before the plunging dolphin, so the hosts on either side 30 
 
 Fell off from Congal as he came in swiftness and in pride. 
 On each hand scattering death he went: with sword-strokes some 
 
 he smote 
 In handed fight: with javelin-casts he others slew remote; 
 
i v.J Congal. 113 
 
 Till, 'twixt him and the steadfast front of Conal's host, the plain 
 Lay unimpeded to his charge save by the fall'n and slain. 
 
 Clan-Conail, now lock close your shields, make fast your 
 battle- front ; 
 The might, the might of Ulster comes, and Congal gives the brunt. 5 
 And proudly kept thy host their place, oh Conal, till the stroke 
 Of Congal's own close-wielded mace a bloody passage broke. 
 Then, though your battle-border long had baffled all his best, 
 Shield-lock'd and shoulder-riveted, with many a valiant breast 
 That burned with Northern valour as courageous as his own, 10 
 
 Yet before the face of Congal ye were crushed and overthrown, 
 Chaff-dispersed and ember-scattered ; till the strong fraternal arm 
 Of Kindred-Owen reached between, and stayed you further harm. 
 
 Ill brooked Sil-Setna's generous Chief, young Conal, to behold 
 The noblest warriors of his race in confluent tumult roll'd 15 
 
 Like sheep to shelter of the fold; and, as fierce Congal closed 
 His rallying ranks to charge anew the fresh foes interposed, 
 Strode forth 'twixt gathering host and host, and said, " Behold, I claim 
 " Safety and single combat, King, and proffer thee the same." 
 
 " Who art thou," Congal said, " who thus wouldst stay the 
 swelling tide 
 " Of Ulster's might, to aggrandize a single warrior's pride?" 
 
 " The Son of Baedan I," replied the Chief, " who from thy race 
 "Wrested Moy Inneray ; and who used, once, make my dwelling-place 
 
 Q 
 
 20 
 
114: Congal. [iv. 
 
 " In broad-stoned Aileach ; but who now in Conang's halls abide, 
 " Since Aileach's gate-posts have of late been stained by parricide." 
 
 "No need for further woman's words," said Congal ; and his cheek 
 Grew shameful red: " Accept the fate thy folly dares to seek." 
 
 So closed their parley ; and the hosts kept each its former place ; 5 
 While they, with deadly-lifted spears, moved through the middle space. 
 
 High beat heroic Conal's heart. In every exercise 
 Of Erin's athletes hitherto his arm had borne the prize. 
 Of all the fearless footsteps, formed 'twixt cliff and climbing sea, 
 From dizzy League to Torrey's straits, the f earlessest had he : 10 
 
 And oft, when, on the heaving skiff, mid baffled waves he hung, 
 Ere up grey Maulin's eyried lofts or Balor's Stairs he sprung ; 
 Oft, when, a-fowling, poised, he swung between the slippery brow 
 And thundering deep, his soul had longed for danger such as now, 
 Guerdoned with glory, called him forth, before a nation's eyes, 15 
 
 To strive, in Country's righteous cause, for Fame's eternal prize. 
 
 They cast their spears together. Each resounding weapon stood 
 To socket in the opposing shield ; and Congal's point drew blood. 
 Then forth, to snatch his weapon back, the King of Ulster sprung; 
 But Conal, with a wrestler's leap, his arms around him flung ; 20 
 
 By flank and shoulder taking hold : nor was King Congal slow 
 With ready-darted hands expert to grapple with his foe, 
 Shoulder and flank : a moment thus stood either mighty man ; 
 Then, in a gathering heave, their game the athlete pair began, 
 
iv.] Congal. 115 
 
 With lifts and thrusts impetuous ; with swift-reversing pulls, 
 
 And solid stands immovable, as young encountering bulls ; 
 
 And counter-prancing dizzy whirls ; till, in the rapid round, 
 
 The feet of either hero seemed to leave the circling ground, 
 
 Though firm as palace-pillars stood their feet beneath them still ; 5 
 
 For neither yet felt any lack of athlete force or skill ; 
 
 But each deemed victory his own : for Congal, where he stood, 
 
 Saw the fast-falling drops that soon would sink the swelling flood 
 
 Of Conal's strength ; and Conal, still unconscious of the waste, 
 
 Invoked his glorious sires, and all his loins with rigour braced ; 10 
 
 Son of the son of Nindid, son of Fergus, as he was, 
 
 Son of great Conal Gulban ; — and he pushed him without pause ; — 
 
 Son of renowned Nine-Hostager ; — and one great heave he gave 
 
 Of his whole heroic body, as the sea upheaves a wave, 
 
 A long strong-rising wave of nine, that from the wallowing floor 15 
 
 Of ocean, when a storm has ceased, nigh to some beachy shore, 
 
 Shows with a sudden black-piled bulk, and swallowing in its sweep 
 
 Accumulated water-heaps from all the hollowed deep, 
 
 Soars, foams, o'erhangs its glassy gulfs ; then, stooping with a roar 
 
 Immeasurable of sea-cascades, stuns all the sounding shore : 20 
 
 With such a heave great Conal rose, rushed onward, overhung 
 
 His down-bent foe, and to the earth the King of Ulster flung. 
 
 As seaweed from the sunken rock the wave's return leaves bare, 
 From Congal's head unhelmeted forth flew the spreading hair, 
 
116 Ccmgal. [iv. 
 
 Soiled in the dust. Exulting shouts, and shouts of rage and grief 
 Rose from the breathless hosts around, as Conal, conquering Chief, 
 Stood; — so some arch-built buttress stands in bending strength 
 
 inclined ; — 
 Preparing with his belt of war the captive King to bind. 5 
 
 But Conan Rodd, whom conquering rage had sped from wing to wing, 
 Drawn by the clamour, from afar beheld the prostrate King. 
 Unconscious of the truce, that yet had not had lawful end, 
 He ran, he leaped, as shaft from string, he flew, to save his friend; 
 And valiant Conal scarce beheld, scarce felt the fatal thrust, 10 
 
 Till his great heart was split in twain, and he too in the dust. 
 
 Up started Congal ; Conan's arms the reeling warrior raised ; 
 And Conan's shoulder stayed his steps, as, panting and amazed, 
 He gained his chariot-seat ; but while with inspirations deep 
 He breathed his breast, from 'midst of Meath forth sprung with 15 
 
 clanging leap 
 Great Kellach, King Malcova's son : with rage and noble scorn 
 Dilating, in the midst he stood, and cried — 
 
 " Base Briton, turn. 
 " From me receive the meed of death that warrior-law decrees 20 
 
 " The impious wretch who violates his combat-guarantees." 
 
 Said Conan, " Though my love could dare the breach of sterner 
 
 " laws 
 " At friendship's call ; this judgment thou dost give without a cause. 
 
iv.] Congal 117 
 
 " For nought, in truth, of any pause or parleying truce I knew 
 " When, newly on the field arrived, to aid my King I flew. 
 " If for his life a life be due, take thou a warrior's word, 
 " No freer soul e'er paid a debt more loyally incurred." 
 
 He wrung the hand that Congal reached ; their hearts within 5 
 them burned 
 With tenderness they might not speak; and to the combat turned. 
 
 Conan his cast delivered first. The spear, from Kellach's shield 
 Glancing oblique, struck socket-deep, innocuous, in the field. 
 Then Kellach, with a dreadful smile, in towering strides drew near ; 10 
 And, with the might of both his hands upheaving high his spear, 
 Smote Conan's buckler in the midst : the brazen bosses flew 
 Disrupted : but, with sudden sleight, the agile warrior threw 
 Shield and shield-cumbered spear aside ; and Kellach, overborne 
 By his own force, as sinks an elm from yielding roots uptorn, 15 
 
 Went prone amid the brazen wreck. Three paces back withdrew 
 Conan, and bared his blade, and said, 
 
 " Rise Kellach, and renew 
 " An equal combat, if thou wilt. I shall not fear in thee 
 " Defect of generous sonl, or breach of warrior- warranty." 20 
 
 " Conan, my life is in thy hands," said Kellach. " Take or give. 
 " Thou hast in me a foe to death, whilst thou and I shall live." 
 
 Then, spear and buckler laid aside, his sword he slowly bared ; 
 Cast on dead Conal's form, a glance ; and stood for fight prepared. 
 
118 Congal. [lV. 
 
 As when two mastiffs chance to me'et upon a public way, 
 And break their leashes, and engage ; their keepers in dismay 
 Back from the fang-commingling fray on either hand recoil ; 
 So stood the hosts at gaze, while they resumed their deadly toil. 
 
 And well might wearied combatant his own dread work forbear 5 
 To view the warlike practice of the sword-accomplished pair ; 
 So, timing, with instinctive sway, consenting eye and hand, 
 They wove the dazzling woof of death 'twixt gleaming brand and brand ; 
 So, mingling their majestic steps in combat's rapid round, 
 They trod the stately brawls of Mars across the listed ground. 10 
 
 At every strong-delivered stroke Red Conan dealt his foe, 
 The Welshmen clapped applauding hands ; at every answering blow 
 Heard with the crush of hauberk burst, or shivering helm, the voice 
 Of Erin, Ulster's host except, went up with cheerful noise. 
 
 But, valiant swordsman though he be, the bravest, soon or late, 15 
 Must, in his proper time, expect the even stroke of fate : 
 And slower motions, and a mist of darkness round his brow, 
 Warned Conan that his stately head to fate should also bow. 
 
 When Kellach felt his force abate, and saw his sight was gone, 
 He yielded back ; but darkly still blind Conan battled on, 20 
 
 Till, not, indeed, like lofty elm in leafy time of year, 
 But like a storm-dismantled mast, that, with its tattered gear, 
 (The long-tormented keel, at last, heaved by a landward swell 
 Against the rock,) goes overboard, at Kellach's feet he fell. 
 
iv.] Congal. 119 
 
 But Kellach took no trophy ; for, with dark brows newly helmed, 
 Congal approached and said, 
 
 " Although that hand hath overwhelmed 
 " My soul with woe ; and righteous rage would justify my spear 
 " In piercing, shieldless, as thou art, and combat-wearied here, 5 
 
 " The author of so huge a grief; yet, for the sake of him 
 " Whose clear renown no breath of thine shall e'er have power to dim, 
 " Go, arm thee, and have needful rest : anon, when apt to mate 
 " With one fresh-breathed and armed as I, return and have thy fate." 
 
 " Congal, I swear I go not hence without my meed of fame," 1° 
 
 Cried Kellach, and seized Conan's crest, to drag him. As the flame 
 Bursts, at the breath of outer air, through fire-concealing smoke, 
 So, forth in fiercer blaze anew the wrath of Congal broke ; 
 And at the chief he aimed a stroke had stretched upon the field 
 War's noblest victim offered yet ; but swift, with guardian shield, * 5 
 Huge Ultan Long-Hand thrust between ; and others not a few 
 From Conal's and Clan-Colla's ranks to aid their champion flew. 
 The Ultonian warriors, hitherto regardant, as behoved 
 Just combatants, and clans of Hft that yet no step had moved, 
 Though seeing him they chiefly loved before their faces slain, 
 And all the remnant of the Franks at once burst in amain : 
 Amid the concourse, Congal Claen rushed to a deadly close 
 With Ultan, and o'er all the plain enormous tumult rose. 
 
 20 
 
GONGAL. 
 
 BOOK V. 
 
 In Ultan Long-Hand's house, that day, at pleasant Dunamain, 
 
 It chanced, his Queen, Finguala, and the women of her train 
 
 Were busied heating water for the bath ; and with them there 
 
 Went, moping idly, Cuanna, long-handed Ultan's heir ; 
 
 An orphan and an idiot. While as yet a little page 5 
 
 He had been sent to Tara, to the King, in fosterage : 
 
 But, ere the second week was passed within the royal school, 
 
 King Domnal's tutors finding him, or deeming him, a fool, 
 
 Had sent him to Hy-Brazil back : where Cuanna whiled away 
 
 His hours amongst the women. Now his stepmother, that day, 10 
 
 Had bade him fetch fresh firewood for the heating of the bath ; 
 
 And Cuanna, like an idiot, had raked up from pool and path 
 
 Green birchen twigs, and oziers dank, and brambles clogged with mire, 
 
 And with the smoky fuel green had well nigh quenched the fire. 
 
 " Done like thee," cried the stepmother, with angry bitter taunt ; 15 
 " Done like an idiot, as thou art ! Aye, wo is me ; we want 
 
v.] Congal. 121 
 
 " Another sort of son this day, than such an one as thou, 
 
 " Thou good-for-nothing imbecile ! Know'st thou not that even now 
 
 " Thy sire and royal foster-sire on Moyra's bloody plain 
 
 " Are fighting for their lives, like men, 'gainst cruel Congal Claen ; 
 
 " Are fighting for their lives and crowns, their wives and children dear, 5 
 
 " Like valiant men, at Moyra, and thou stand'st idling here?" 
 
 " Show me the way to Moyra," Cuanna answered, all a-flame. 
 
 " Small skill there needs to find it," replied the bitter dame : 
 " Get thee down to Neur-Kin-Troya, where the hosts have left their 
 
 " track 10 
 
 " Plain enough for even an idiot to follow there and back." 
 
 " Bestow me arms and armour," cried Cuanna. 
 
 " Spear or shield 
 " There is not left within the house since Ultan took the field," 
 Replied the Queen : but this was false : for much she stood in dread 15 
 Lest Cuanna's scattered sparks of sense should gather to a head, 
 And all her hopes to see her own first-born assume the sway 
 Be, in the elder son's return to reason, swept away. 
 Wherefore she sought to urge him forth with words of taunt and scorn, 
 Naked, to war, that so perchance the youth might not return. 20 
 
 " Arms yet enough are left behind," said Cuanna ; and he strode 
 To where the bill-hook lay wherewith, that morning, he had mowed 
 The dank soft twigs as with a scythe ; and scythe-sharp was the blade, 
 And spear-keen was the iron spike the skilful smith had made 
 
 R 
 
122 Congal. [v. 
 
 Projecting from the burnished hook; and javelin-long the shaft 
 Of tough ash twixt its brazen straps. 
 
 " Spear here," he cried, and laughed : 
 And, to the bath-house turning next, with ready art undid 
 The bolts that to the cauldron-head secured the brazen lid. 5 
 
 " Shield here," he cried, and laughed again ; and with a leathern thong 
 Passed through the handle's inner eyes, in cross-lapped bandage strong 
 He braced the great disk to his arm. But when the Queen beheld 
 Young Cuanna's practice, fear and rage her jealous bosom swelled ; 
 And, "Fool," she cried, "thou wouldst destroy the cauldron that thy Sire 10 
 " Bought with three hundred kine : restore the cover, I desire, 
 " Instantly to its former place." 
 
 But Cuanna laughed in scorn ; 
 And when the Queen laid hands on him, and would, herself, have torn 
 The boss'd brass from his arm, with force so sudden Cuanna shook 15 
 Her weak grasp off, and gave withal so terrible a look 
 Of bloody meaning, that the Queen and all the maids and wives 
 About her fled a spear-cast off in terror of their lives, 
 Clapping their hands and raising loud their helpless ulaloos, 
 While Cuanna took his downward route straight for the Strand- 20 
 
 End- Yews. 
 Arrived at Neur-Kin-Troya, all the Strand-End brown and vast 
 Was scored with tracks where chariot-wheels and weighted steeds had 
 
 passed, 
 
v.J Congal. 123 
 
 The hoof-prints pointing to the North ; and northward, on the trail 
 Of horse and chariot, all alone, went Cuanna up the vale. 
 
 On came the royal idiot on the strong track of the war, 
 Till past the fords of Ornav he descried the fight afar : 
 And the first man he encountered on the borders of the strife 5 
 
 Was Fercar Finn, his father's steward : he had escaped with life, 
 But deeply wounded ; and he cried, his labouring gasps between, 
 " Good, my dear Cuanna, wherefore thou in such a bloody scene?" 
 
 " I come to slay false Congal," the generous fool replied ; 
 " And learn to be a warrior by my royal father's side." 10 
 
 " Alas, dear child, since long ere noon thy royal Sire lies slain, 
 " Pierced by a javelin, through the heart, by cruel Congal Claen." 
 
 " Right soon will I revenge his death," cried Cuanna. " Tell me 
 " where 
 " The traitor fights." 15 
 
 " Where thickest ranks thou seest recoiling, there 
 " Be sure, is Congal. But beware : thou canst not bear the shock 
 " Of battle with thy youthful frame : besides, they all would mock 
 " Thine arms fantastic : for who yet ere sought a battle-field 
 " With bill-hook for a spear, and lid of cauldron for a shield?" 
 
 " Let mock who will," the youth replied ; " for see ; the tide of war 
 " Seeths like the rising seas I 've seen on Cuan Carlinne's bar ; 
 " And all the hosts are this way driven. Now for the first essay 
 " In arms of Cuanna, called the Fool no longer from to-day." 
 
 20 
 
124 Congal. [v. 
 
 And heading onward through the press, within a little space, 
 He found himself with Congal Claen confronted, face to face. 
 
 Triumphant Congal just ere then had, with his sword, achieved 
 A feat of more than swordsman-skill, yet fit to be believed, 
 Upon Caenfalla Olliolson, a doctor even then 5 
 
 Accounted wiser than the most of Erin's learned men. 
 He, when he saw the King that way direct his slaughtering path, 
 Had in his heart conceived the hope, himself, to quell his wrath ; 
 And for a little while withstood his onset : but his heart 
 At the third sword-stroke failed him quite ; and all his warrior-art 10 
 He clean forgot ; and public shame embracing, turned and fled ; 
 While Congal with a following stroke cut through his hinder 
 
 head, 
 Letting the lower brain exude. Caenfalla there had died 
 Upon the field; but Ere and Flan, old pupils, drew aside 15 
 
 The fainting master, and on poles conveyed him to the rere 
 To Bishop Senach, where he breathed through that good leech's 
 
 care; 
 And Senach next committed him to the physician-seer, 
 Mild Brecan, in whose hospital he lay, at cure, a year ; 20 
 
 And at the twelvemonths' end was found, such virtue is in store 
 In purging of the hinder brain, twice wiser than before. 
 And now for all Caenfalla's books of wit and hopeful aid 
 To learning, Ir's and Ever's sons give thanks to Congal's blade. 
 
v.J Congal. 125 
 
 When, therefore, Congal saw the fool stand where the sage had 
 stood, 
 He stood himself, and loudly laughed ; and cried in scornful mood, 
 
 " A mighty hosting, by my head ; a terrible array 
 " This potent King of Erin makes against me here to-day, 5 
 
 " Who brings his valiant sages and grammarians from their schools, 
 " And also, in amazing arms, his lunatics and fools." 
 
 " Mock no man's son," said Cuanna, " who comes to do his best, 
 " And give his day of battle for his country with the rest." 
 
 " Take not my words in anger, I beseech thee, brother mine," 10 
 Said Congal ; " well I know that strife is no concern of thine." 
 And would have passed him by in scorn : but Cuanna, as he pass'd, 
 Pressed hard his foot against the ground, and made a mighty cast 
 Of the great bill-hook from behind : just where the rings were laced 
 Whereby the brass-seamed coat of mail round Congal's side was braced 15 
 The weapon entered : through the rings of brittle brass, and through 
 The deer-skin war-shirt underneath the rugged weapon flew, 
 And deep within his flank hung fixed: but, deep as was the wound, 
 It did not yet suffice to bring strong Congal to the ground. 
 
 He turned, and might have slain the fool; but Congal's heart 20 
 disdained 
 That weapons of a warrior should with idiot blood be stained. 
 He laid his glittering weapons on the green grass at his feet, 
 And with both hands essayed to drag the weapon from its seat, 
 
1^6 Congal. [v. 
 
 But failed : a second time he tugg'd with painful sick essay, 
 
 And failed : but at the third attempt the javelin came away. 
 
 Then round his lacerated side he drew his glittering belt, 
 
 Resumed his arms, and stood erect, as though he scarce had felt 
 
 The wound that through his vitals was diffusing death the while ; 5 
 
 And said, 
 
 "It grieves me, Cuanna, that the weak hands imbecile 
 " Of one devoid of reason, should have dealt this fatal blow ; 
 " For, that it is a mortal hurt thou 'st given me, well I know : 
 " And well I knew my death to-day at Moyra stood decreed ; 10 
 
 " But thought to find my destiny at other hands, indeed. 
 " Had many-battled Kellach dealt the final blow of fate, 
 " I by a King, and like a King, had died with mind elate. 
 " Or Crunvall, to whose royal Sire the stroke of fate I gave, 
 " To die by him had been to feed the vengeance of the brave : 15 
 
 " But thus at last to perish by thy weak, inglorious spear, 
 " Forgive me, foolish Cuanna ; this is hard indeed to bear." 
 
 Nought answered Cuanna ; but caught up his weapon where it 
 
 lay, 
 And towards the royal standard straight proceeded through the fray, 20 
 Where Domnal stood among his Chiefs and Bishops : hard bested 
 He was to pass the thronging groups, 'mongst whom already spread 
 The rumour that a stranger youth had slain the dreaded King : 
 But, ever pressing on, at length he stood within the ring 
 
v.] Congal. 127 
 
 Before the Monarch ; and exclaimed, in eager accents clear, 
 Laying his bill at Domnal's feet, " The blood of Congal here." 
 
 Then, some who saw the feat achieved, avouching it for truth, 
 The King exclaimed, " Oh glorious deed ; and thou, oh happy youth, 
 " Say who thou art,. and ask such boon as Domnal can bestow, 5 
 
 " For this, thy realm-enfranchising and mischief-ending blow." 
 
 Then Cuanna from his brow and face put back the matted hair, 
 And drew his body to its height, and with a graceful air, 
 For tall and comely was the youth, and of a manly mould, 
 His simple story to the King with modest freedom told. 10 
 
 " My name is Cuanna, eldest son of Ultan, who, sometime, 
 " Was King in Orior. When a child, my wicked Nurse, whose crime 
 " Goes still unpunished, with a doll, dressed as a goblin, so 
 " Scared me, that ever since I've lost my reason; but I know 
 " Enough to know that cunning wretch, ere yet my mother died, 15 
 
 " Inveigled Ultan to her bed; and now, where once she plied 
 " Her menial office, sits his Queen. Now, when I grew of age 
 " For nurture, I to thee, oh King, was sent in pupilage: 
 " But, ere I spent the second week within your Highness' school, 
 " Thy tutors, finding, or, at least, supposing, me a fool, 20 
 
 " Returned me home ; and as a fool and idiot ever since 
 " I've had their usage— used, indeed, not as an idiot prince, 
 " But as a menial slave, by her who longs to see me dead, 
 " That her own son, without dispute, might reign in Ultan's stead. 
 
128 Congal. [v. 
 
 " Wherefore, to-day, she would have urged me forth to battle here, 
 
 " Naked, pretending that the house held neither shield nor spear, 
 
 " Although in Ultan's inner hall a hundred men might find 
 
 " Weapons and tackle competent, and still leave store behind. 
 
 " And so, with such rude substitutes as these which here ye see 5 
 
 " Perforce I came: and God to these has given the victory. 
 
 " And now, oh King, the boon I crave is, to be set at large 
 
 "Forthwith from Queen Finguala's thrall; and from the shameful 
 
 " charge 
 " Of women tutors ; and to wear a good sword by my side, 10 
 
 " And have my hound to chase the deer, and have my horse to ride, 
 " As other princely youths are wont : and, when I 'm older grown, 
 " To have a fair and pleasant wife and household of my own ; 
 " But first of all the boons I crave is this, that, back again, 
 " While she sits there, I be not sent to live at Dunamain. 15 
 
 " For, rather would I be the dog that stands upon the watch 
 " Beside the board of some poor man, to see what it may snatch, 
 " At peril of the housewife's staff, with rib and back-bone clung, 
 " Than live, a King, within the reach of that fell vixen's tongue." 
 
 " All that thou wouldst," replied the King, " dear Cuanna, shall 20 
 
 " be done. 
 " And furthermore, I make a vow, thy wicked stepdame's son 
 " Shall never sit in Ultan's place : and if in Dunamain 
 " Arms but for one be found, she wears, for life, the captive's chain.'' 
 
v.J Congal. 129 
 
 " Tis good," said Cuanna ; and sat down ; and from the gravelly soil 
 Picking the pebbles smooth, began to toss, with patient toil, 
 The little stones from hand to hand, alternate back and palm, 
 Regardless of the presence round, and lapsed in childish calm. 
 
 But Congal, conscious that his strength by slow degrees decayed, 5 
 Resolved, while yet his arm had nerve to lift the wearying blade, 
 To spend his still-remaining power in one supreme attack, 
 That Ulster so with victory, though Kingless, might go back. 
 
 Then once again the lines of fight were stretched from wing to wing 
 Of Congal's battle ; and the hosts led by the vigorous King, 10 
 
 For so to all their eyes he seemed, once more in dense array 
 Across the corpse-encumbered mead moved to renew the fray. 
 
 An onset terrible it was : in all the fight till then 
 Fell not so many of the flower of Erin's youths and men. 
 Full on Momonia fell the brunt ; the burst Mdmonian host 15 
 
 An arrow-flight on either hand recoiled ; and well nigh lost 
 For Domnal seemed the day ; when lo, forth came Aed Bennan's son, 
 His bedfellow and fosterer in former days, Maldun, 
 And challenged Congal to the strife : thrice had he thought before 
 To raise his courage to the feat ; and thrice his feet forbore 
 To bear him past the sheltering ranks : but now, that Cuanna's blow, 
 Through Congal's ghastly cheek, proclaimed that life was ebbing low, 
 He deemed the hour at length arrived when he might safely dare 
 The King's encounter : and he cried, " Turn, Congal, and prepare 
 
 s 
 
 20 
 
130 Con gal. [v. 
 
 " To meet a traitor's recompense. No second rumour vain 
 " Shall now delude us, heralding the King of Ulster slain." 
 
 The force of scorn, a moment's space, recalled the rallying blood 
 To Congal's cheek. Between the hosts with form erect he stood, 
 And cried, " Oh, hardy enterprise ! Oh, rare adventurous wight ! 5 
 
 " And hast thou strung thy soul at length to venture forth to fight? 
 " I know thee well, thou coward ! Never yet, from childhood's hour, 
 " Hadst thou for any manly deed the purpose or the power. 
 " But ever since thy childhood, 'twas thy chiefest pride and praise 
 " To imitate the dark, insidious, battle- shunning ways 10 
 
 " Of thy politic preceptor ; and a right Domnalian feat 
 " It were, mine idiot slayer of his just reward to cheat." 
 
 Replied Maldun, " Thy railing words, injurious King, I hold 
 " But as the womanish recourse of tongue-puissant scold ; 
 " And, for thy guilty insults to thy sovereign and thy sire, I 5 
 
 " Small the amount of warrior-art or valour 'twill require 
 " To quell a wretch devoted by his crimes to every harm 
 " That heaven decrees the impious man ; upon whose palsied arm 
 " Hangs parricide's foul fetter ; and whose halting foot is bound 
 <l By the iron spancil of the Church's curses to the ground." 
 
 And therewithal he cast his spear. But Congal's rallying look, 
 For all the boldness of his speech, his heart within him shook; 
 And feebly, with a wavering flight, the aimless javelin strayed 
 Past Congal's shoulder. Then the King swung high his glittering 
 blade, 
 
 20 
 
v.J Congal. 131 
 
 And gathering all the force that still lodged in his mighty frame, 
 
 Struck on the helmet of Maldun ; but struck -with luckless aim, 
 
 For, even as crest and crashing helm half yielded to the stroke, 
 
 Short from its rivets, at the hilt, the faithless weapon broke ; 
 
 And, high as from a tree-top, in the pairing time of spring, 5 
 
 A warbling bird springs up to heaven, its lay of love to sing, 
 
 So high above the warriors' heads leaped Congal's flickering blade : 
 
 But the blind counter-stroke Maldun, with aimless instinct, made, 
 
 As Congal from his crest drew back the remnant of the brand, 
 
 Sheer from the King's extended wrist smote off the good right 10 
 
 hand. 
 The empty, far-projected hand whirled, grasping, o'er and o'er ; 
 And sank, to deal heroic blows and generous gifts no more. 
 Then maddened Congal would have closed ; but, at his aspect dread, 
 Maldun, unconscious of his own achievement, turned and fled. 15 
 
 " Aye, go thy ways," exclaimed the King, in bitter scornful ire; 
 " Thou now art treading worthily the footsteps of thy sire. 
 " I little thought, though well prepared to meet a warrior's doom, 
 " That 'twas from hands like his and thine the stroke of fate should 
 
 " come." 20 
 
 With this, the Meathmen's parting ranks to Congal's gaze revealed 
 Kellach, new-armed, and fresh from rest, advancing on the field. 
 So from his cloud the eagle comes ; so from the leafy walks 
 Of brown Gaetulian thicket-sides the lordly lion stalks. 
 
132 Congal. [v. 
 
 Darkness came with him : all the heavens with sudden gloom were 
 
 spread, 
 And gathering mists of faintness closed round Congal's drooping head ; 
 But still he kept his wavering feet, still waved his flickering shield, 
 And said, 5 
 
 " Oh Kellach, thou art late. My conquest now can yield 
 " Small fame : but if Malcova's son desire, in future lays, 
 "With idiot Cuanna and with him to share inglorious praise, 
 " Approach, and slaughter Congal Claen, where maimed and hare he 
 
 " stands, 10 
 
 " An easy prey to butcher-swords, left by ignoble hands." 
 
 " No, Congal," generous Kellach said: " no blood of thine shall dim 
 " The weapons of Malcova's son, while armed and whole of limb 
 " He; mutilated, swordless thou; nor shall this spear deprive 
 " Young Cuanna of his just renown: but yield thyself alive.'' 15 
 
 He sank his spear half-raised to cast, and sprang to seize the 
 
 King; 
 But, ere he reached him, Congal dropped ; and with a swooping wing, 
 Sudden and black, the storm came down : with scourge of hissing hail 
 It lashed the blinded, stumbling hosts : a shrill loud-whistling wail 20 
 And thunderous clamors filled the sky, it seemed, with such a sound 
 As though to giant herdsman's call there barked a giant hound 
 Within the cloud above their heads ; and loud-rebounding strokes 
 They also heard, or seemed to hear, and claps of flapping cloaks 
 
v.J Congal. 133 
 
 Within the bosom of the cloud : so deemed they ; but anon 
 The storm rolled northward ; and the hosts perceived the King was 
 gone. 
 
 Light from the sun, and panic-dread diffusive as the light, 
 From heaven at once together fell on Congal's line of fight: 5 
 
 And though they held no counsel, nor did man confer with man, 
 Yet through the whole invading host, from wing to centre, ran 
 The desperate simultaneous wish to turn from Domnal's face 
 Their firm opposing bucklers, and expose him, in their place, 
 Their shoulders and their hollow spines, exchanging strength and fame, 10 
 Safety and pride, for helpless flight, destruction, death and shame. 
 
 Then dire was their disorder, as the wavering line at first 
 Swayed to and fro irresolute ; then, all disrupted, burst 
 Like waters from a broken dam effused upon the plain, 
 The shelter of Killultagh's woods and winding glens to gain. 15 
 
 To expedite their running, in their shameful-vieing race, 
 Helmet and shield they cast away, long lance and iron mace. 
 Gold-sparkling swords and shirts of mail in glittering heaps were 
 
 spread, 
 Resplendent, gleaming 'mongst the heaps of wounded and of dead. 20 
 But, though prodigious plunder so encumbered all their track, 
 For beaten gold nor cloth of gold would Domnal's Chiefs hold back 
 Their eager hands from vengeance, or their feet from warrior-toil ; 
 But, leaving slave and horse-boy to collect the glittering spoil, 
 
134 Congal. [v. 
 
 Themselves, with leaps and spurnings amid the entangling throes 
 Of writhing, prostrate enemies, with close, limb-severing blows, 
 Urged on the pitiless pursuit ; the helpless flying crowd 
 Consumed beneath the wasting sword as melts the morning cloud. 
 
 Death levels all : and where they ran, hard by the brink of death, 5 
 Speed was the last distinction left ; and he whose store of breath 
 Sufficed to bear him farthest forth, was deemed, of all the rest, 
 Richest : nor ran there there a man who, if he had possessed 
 The world and all its cattle, would have grudged to give the whole 
 For one hour's fleetness of a deer to gain the sheltering goal, 10 
 
 Leaving friend and foe behind him. Many a son was there, in sooth, 
 Outrunning his own father ; many a fleet, deep-chested youth, 
 Spent and breathless, overtaken ; many an elsewhere valiant man, 
 As, among the hindmost flyers, in the crowded rere he ran, 
 Crying, " Halt, and make a stand, my friends," to those who fled in 15 
 
 front; 
 But with no intent, himself, to halt; but only that the brunt 
 Might fall on any other, friend or brother, whomsoe'er 
 His wile could cast behind him in the deadly-crowded rere. 
 There many a haughty noble ran, of stripe and badge bereft; 20 
 
 Ran many a lithe-ham'd vaulter, without leap or breathing left ; 
 And men who, in the morning, would have rather died than fled, 
 Now, even as wide-winged running birds, with labouring arms out- 
 spread 
 
v.] Congal. 135 
 
 And shoulders raised alternate, bounded forward like the wind, 
 Eager only in their horror to leave friend and foe behind. 
 Of all the field Halt Kellach on his chair alone sat still, 
 Where placed to view the battle on the airy, green-sloped hill : 
 And, like a sea-rock that alone of all around stands fast, 5 
 
 Mid scudding clouds, and hurrying waves, and hoarse tides racing 
 
 past, 
 So sat he rooted mid the rout; so, past his brazen chair 
 Was poured the heavy-rolling tide of ruin and despair : 
 And oft he cried to those who fled, with shrill, disdainful call, 10 
 
 " Stand fast : fear nothing : turn like men !" but none gave heed at all ; 
 Till, Druid Drostan hurrying by, like maniac horror-driven, 
 He hailed him mid the long-hair'd rout, " Bald-head, how fare my 
 
 "Seven?" 
 " Slain all," was all the sage replied, as labouring on he went : * 5 
 
 Then Kellach leaned upon his couch, and said, '' I am content." 
 Nor spoke he more till Elar Derg cried, " Old man of the chair, 
 " Courage : young Brasil still survives, and seeks thee everywhere." 
 And Brasil's self, emerging from the flying throng, appeared, 
 Bloody and faint, but calling out incessant as he neared, 20 
 
 " Ho, father, I am with thee. Courage, father ; I am here : 
 " Up; mount upon my shoulders: I have strength to bear thee clear." 
 And ran and knelt beside the chair, to heave him on his back ; 
 But as he stooped, even through the curls that clustered on his neck, 
 
13(3 Congal [v. 
 
 An arrow smote him. Kellach said, " Best so. I thank thee, God, 
 " That by no son of mine the path of shame will now be trod.'' 
 And leaned again upon his couch; and set his hoary head, 
 Awaiting death, with face as fixed as if already dead. 
 
 But keen-eyed Domnal, where he stood to view the rout, ere long 5 
 Spying that white unmoving head amid the scattering throng, 
 Exclaimed, " Of all their broken host one only man I see 
 " Not flying ; and I therefore judge him impotent to be 
 " Of use of limb. Go : take alive," he cried, " and hither fetch 
 " The hoary-haired unmoving man: 'tis Kellach, hapless wretch, 10 
 
 " The very author of the war. There lives not on the face 
 " Of earth a man stands so in need of God's forgiving grace: 
 " And, — for he was my father's friend, and that white helpless head 
 " Stirs my compassion, — though my foe, I would not see him sped 
 " Unshrived to that accounting dread ; if yet your pious care, 15 
 
 " Oh Pontiffs, may prevail to bend his stubborn heart to prayer." 
 
 Said Bishop Ere, — the kinsman he of Ere of Slane, — " The ban 
 " Already has gone duly forth against the impious man: 
 " And till the power that laid it on, that sentence shall reverse, 
 " He who to Kellach proffers grace, is partner in his curse." 20 
 
 Said Senach, " No authentic note to me has yet arrived 
 " Of such a sentence. If he will, the Senior shall be shrived." 
 
 " I know the man,'' said Ronan Finn. " A Pagan strong : beware 
 " Lest he repay with blasphemy your proffered call to prayer." 
 
v.J Congal. 137 
 
 While thus the Prelates; from their side, as strong-cast javelin, sent 
 From palm of long-armed warrior, a swift battalion went, 
 And, breaking through the hindmost line, where Kellach sat hard by, 
 Took him alive ; and chair and man uphoisting shoulder-high, 
 They bore him back, his hoary locks and red eyes gleaming far, 5 
 
 The grimmest standard yet displayed that day o'er all the war ; 
 And grimly, where they set him down, he eyed the encircling ring 
 Of Bishops and of chafing Chiefs who stood about the King. 
 
 Then, with his crozier's nether end turned towards him, Bishop Ere 
 Said, " Wretch abhorred, to thee it is we owe this bloody work; 10 
 
 " By whose malignant counsel moved, thy hapless nephew first 
 " Sought impious aid of foreigners ; for which be thou accurst." 
 And turned and left them. 
 
 Senach then approaching, mildly said, 
 " No curse so strong, but in the blood for man's redemption shed, 15 
 " May man dissolve ; and also thou, unhappy, if thou wilt, 
 " May'st purchase peace and pardon now, and every stain of guilt 
 " That soils thy soul, may'st wash away ; if but with heart sincere 
 " Thou wilt repent thee, and embrace the heavenly boon which here 
 " I offer." 20 
 
 " Speak him louder, Sir," said harsher Ronan Finn. 
 " Kellach, repent thy sins," he cried ; " and presently begin : 
 "For few the moments left thee now; and, ere the hour be past, 
 " Thy lot may, for eternity, in Heaven or Hell be cast." 
 
 T 
 
138 Congal. [v. 
 
 " Repent thy sins," said Domnal ; "and implore the Church's grace ; 
 " So shall thy life be spared thee yet a little breathing-space." 
 
 Then Kellach from the Bishops' gaze withdrew his wavering 
 glance, 
 And, fixing his fast-glazing eyes on Domnal's countenance, 5 
 
 Said, " I am old, and mainly deaf; and much of what they say 
 " I hear not: but I tell thee this ; we'd not be here to-day 
 ' ' But for this trick of cursing ; wherein much more expert 
 " Are these front-shaven Druids than in any manly art." 
 
 " Injurious Kellach," said the King, " beware the chastening rod 10 
 " The Church of Christ reserves for those who mock the priests of 
 " God." 
 
 " Of no good God are these the priests," said Kellach ; "and, for me, 
 " I ne'er sought evil Spirit's aid 'gainst any enemy : 
 
 " But what I've learned in better times among my noble peers, 15 
 
 " That I have practised and upheld for well nigh fourscore years ; 
 " And never asked from clerk or witch, by sacrifice or charm, 
 " To buy a demon's venal help to aid my own right arm : 
 " But in my house, good Poets, men expert in song and lay, 
 " I 've kept, in bounteous sort, to teach my sons the prosperous way 20 
 " Of open truth and manliness : for, ever since the time 
 " When Cathbad smothered Usnach's sons in that foul sea of slime 
 " Raised by abominable spells at Creeveroe's bloody gate, 
 " Do ruin and dishonour still on priest-led Kings await. 
 
v.J Congal. 139 
 
 " Wherefore, by Fergus, son of Roy, ere that year pass'd away, 
 
 " Emania was left bare and black; and so lies at this day : 
 
 " And thou in desert Tara darest not, thyself, to dwell, 
 
 " Since that other bald magician, of Lorrah, from his bell 
 
 " Shook out his maledictions on the unoffending hill." 5 
 
 Said Domnal, " By my valour, old man, thou doest ill, 
 " Comparing blessed Saints of Christ with Pagan priests of Crom." 
 
 " Crom, or whomever else they serve," said Kellach ; " them that 
 " come 
 " Cursing, I curse." 10 
 
 Then Ronan Finn, upheaving high his bell, 
 Rang it, and gave the banning word ; and Kellach therewith fell 
 Off his tolg side upon the ground, stone dead. The Poets there, 
 Next night, in secret, buried him upon his brazen chair. 
 
 Brass-armed complete for standing fight, in Cahir-Laery's wall, 15 
 Sun-smitten Laery, rampart-tomb'd, awaits the judgment- call, 
 Facing the Leinstermen ; years roll ; and Leinster is no more 
 The dragon-den of hostile men it was in days of yore ; 
 Still, constant till the day of doom, while the great stone-work lasts, 
 Laery stands listening for the trump, at whose wall-bursting blasts 20 
 He leaps again to fire thy plain, oh Liffey, with the glare 
 Of that dread golden-bordered shield : thus ever, on his chair, 
 Kellach awaits, from age to age, the coming of the time 
 Will bring the cursers and the curs'd before the Judge sublime. 
 
140 Congal. [v. 
 
 But, rapt in darkness and in swoon of anguish and despair, 
 As in a whirlwind, Congal Claen seemed borne thro' upper air; 
 And, conscious only of the grief surviving at his heart, 
 Now deemed himself already dead, and that his deathless part 
 Journeyed to judgment ; but before what God's or demon's seat 5 
 
 Dared not conjecture ; though, at times, from tramp of giant feet 
 And heavy flappings heard in air, around and underneath, 
 He darkly surmised who might be the messenger of death 
 Who bore him doomward: but anon, laid softly on the ground, 
 His mortal body with him still, and still alive he found. 10 
 
 Loathing the light of day he lay ; nor knew nor reck'd he where ; 
 For present anguish left his mind no room for other care; 
 All his great heart to bursting filled with rage, remorse and shame, 
 To think what labour come to nought, what hopes of power and fame 
 Turned in a moment to contempt; what hatred and disgrace 15 
 
 Fixed thenceforth irremovably on all his name and race ; — 
 Till Ardan's voice beside him rose, " Lo, Congal, we are here, 
 " Not, I attest all Earth and Heaven, through willing flight or fear: 
 " But, when from Kellach's last assault I caught thee to my car 
 " Fainting, a frenzy seized the steeds, and swept us from the war; 20 
 "And all night long, with furious hoofs, and necks that scorned control, 
 "They 've borne us northward, and have here attained their fated goal." 
 
 Then Congal raised his drooping head, and saw with bloodshot eyes 
 His native vale before him spread ; saw grassy Collin rise 
 
v.J Congal. 141 
 
 High o'er the homely Antrim hills. He groaned with rage and shame. 
 " And have I fled the field," he cried ; " and shall my hapless name 
 " Become this byeword of reproach? Rise ; bear me back again, 
 "And lay me where I yet may lie among the valiant slain." 
 
 "The steeds," said Ardan, "'neath the yoke, behold, lie stiff in 5 
 " death. 
 " Here fate has fixed that thou and I shall draw our last of breath ; 
 " For I am worn with weight of years, and feebly now inhale 
 " The vital air: and newer life from mountain and from vale 
 " Rises and pushes me aside. A voice that seems to cry, 10 
 
 " ' Make way ; make straight another way,' is filling earth and sky." 
 
 A thought came into Congal's mind, — how sent let faith divine, — 
 He said, " No man had ever shame or grief compared to mine. 
 " A fugitive against my will : in sacrilegious feud, 
 
 " A proud invader, shamefully by idiot hands subdued. 15 
 
 " But more than for myself 1 mourn my generous friends deceived, 
 " And all their wives and little ones of lord and sire bereaved." 
 
 Tears sent from whence the thought had come, — let faith divine 
 their source, — 
 Rose at the thought to Congal's eyes, and pressed with tender force 20 
 Unwonted passage ; and he wept, with many bitter sighs, 
 In sudden vision of his life and all its vanities. 
 
 As when a tempest — which, all day, with whirlwind, fire and hail, 
 Vexing mid-air, has hid the sight of sunshine from the vale, — 
 
142 Congal. [v. 
 
 Towards sunset rolls its thunders up ; fast as it mounts on high, 
 
 A flood of placid light re-fills the lately troubled sky; 
 
 Shine all the fall down-sliding streams, wet blades and quivering 
 
 sprays, 
 And all the grassy-sided vales with emerald lustre blaze ; 5 
 
 So, in the shower of Congafs tears, his storms of passion pass'd ; 
 So, o'er his long distempered soul came tranquil light at last. 
 
 Ere wonder in his calming mind had found reflection's aid, 
 There came across the daisyed lawn a veiled religious maid 
 From wicket of a neighbouring close ; and, as she nearer drew, 10 
 
 The peerless gesture and the grace indelible he knew. 
 
 She, when she saw the wounded man was Congal, stood and 
 prayed 
 A little space, and trembled much : then came, and meekly said, 
 " Sir, thou art wounded ; and I come from Brigid's cell hard by 15 
 
 " To tend thy wants, if thou wilt brook a sister's charity." 
 
 " And is my aspect also, then, so altered," Congal cried, 
 " That thou, Lafinda, knowest me not, that shouldst have been my 
 "bride?" 
 
 " Bride now of Christ," she answered low ; " I know thee but as one 20 
 " For whom my heavenly Spouse has died." 
 
 " And other nuptials none 
 " Desire I for thee now," he said ; " for nothing now is mine, 
 " Save the fast-fleeting breath of life I hasten to resign." 
 
v.] Congal. 143 
 
 She knelt to aid him. As she knelt, light-wafted o'er the green, 
 In shadow of a passing cloud, was flying Sweeny seen. 
 Whom when, at first, Lafinda knew, her cheek, so pale but now, 
 And all the veil allowed to view of neck and marble brow, 
 Grew red with shame. But Congal said, 5 
 
 " Although the assembled host 
 " Have seen him fly, yet scorn him not, nor deem thy brother lost, 
 " More than his Chief, who also fled." 
 
 " The red blood on thy cheek," 
 Said Ardan, "maid, mis-seems thee not. Though vowed submiss 10 
 
 " and meek, 
 " Thou art a royal daughter still. But deem not that he flies, 
 " Impelled by dread of mortal foe. The demons of the skies, 
 " Wielding the unseen whips of God, are they who drive him on, 
 " Mad, but in no disgraceful flight unworthy Colman's son." 15 
 
 " Sister,'' said Sweeny ; and he came, with light foot, gliding nigh ; 
 " I come not hither as he comes, in sight of home to die. 
 " My day, indeed, is distant yet: and many a wandering race 
 " Must I with wind and shower maintain ; and many a rainbow chase 
 " Across the wet-bright meads, ere I, like him, obtain release 20 
 
 " From furious fancy's urgent stings, and lay my limbs in peace. 
 " Lo, all is changed. In Brigid's cell thou, now, a close-shut nun, 
 "That wert the assemblies' pride before. I, with the clouds 
 " and sun, 
 
144- Congal. [v. 
 
 " And bellowing creatures of the glade, for comrades of my way, 
 " Roam homeless ; I, that was a king of thousands yesterday.'' 
 
 " Grieve not for me," Lafinda said. " In Brigid's cell I find 
 " The calm-enforcing discipline and humbleness of mind 
 " My nature needed, and yet needs. And thou, my brother wild, 5 
 
 " Take ghostly counsel ; and thou, too, may'st yet be reconciled 
 " To God and reason." 
 
 Sweeny said; " Some holy man, perchance, 
 " May aid me; but unless he dwell where morning sunbeams dance 
 " In spray of upland waterfalls, or tell his beads below 10 
 
 "Where, deep in murky mountain-clefts, the moon-white waters 
 
 "flow, 
 " Small chance is his and mine to meet: for there my path must lie; 
 " And thither rise my feet to run o'er crags and hill-tops high. 
 " But not alone I course the wild. Although apart from men, 15 
 
 " Shapes of the air attend my steps, and have me in their ken." 
 
 Even as he spoke, soft-rustling sounds to all their ears were borne, 
 Such as warm winds at eve excite 'mongst brown-ripe rolling corn. 
 All, but Lafinda, looked : but she, behind a steadfast lid, 
 Kept her calm eyes from that she deemed a sight unholy, hid. 20 
 
 And Congal reck'd not if the Shape that passed before his eyes 
 Lived only on the inward film, or outward 'neath the skies. 
 
 No longer soiled with stain of earth, what seemed his mantle shone 
 Rich with innumerable hues refulgent, such as one 
 
V.] Congal. 145 
 
 Beholds, and thankful-hearted he, who casts abroad his gaze 
 O'er some rich tillage-country-side, when mellow Autumn days 
 Gild all the sheafy foodf ul stooks ; and, broad before him spread, — 
 He looking landward from the brow of some great sea-cape's head, 
 Bray or Ben-Edar — sees beneath, in silent pageant grand, 5 
 
 Slow fields of sunshine spread o'er fields of rich, corn-bearing land ; 
 Red glebe and meadow-margin green commingling to the view 
 With yellow stubble, browning woods, and upland tracts of blue ; — 
 Then, sated with the pomp of fields, turns, seaward, to the verge 
 Where, mingling with the murmuring wash made by the far-down 10 
 
 surge, 
 Comes up the clangorous song of birds unseen, that, low beneath, 
 Poised off the rock, ply underfoot ; and, 'mid the blossoming heath, 
 And mint-sweet herb that loves the ledge rare-air'd, at ease reclined, 
 Surveys the wide pale-heaving floor crisped by a curling wind ; 15 
 
 With all its shifting, shadowy belts, and chasing scopes of green, 
 Sun-strown, foam-freckled, sail-embossed, and . blackening squalls 
 
 between, 
 And slant, cerulean-skirted showers that with a drowsy sound, 
 Heard inward, of ebullient waves, stalk all the horizon round ; 20 
 
 And — haply, being a citizen just 'scaped from some disease 
 That long has held him sick indoors, now, in the brine-fresh breeze, 
 Health-salted, bathes ; and says, the while he breathes reviving bliss, 
 " I am not good enough, oh God, nor pure enough for this !" — 
 
 u 
 
146 Congal [v. 
 
 Such seemed its hues. His feet were set in fields of waving grain ; 
 His head, above, obscured the sun : all round the leafy plain 
 Blackbird and thrush piped loud acclaims : in middle air, breast-high, 
 The lark shrill carolled : overhead, and halfway up the sky, 
 Sailed the far eagle: from his knees, down dale and grassy steep, 5 
 
 Thronged the dun, mighty upland droves, and mountain-mottling 
 
 sheep, 
 And by the river-margins green, and o'er the thymy meads 
 Before his feet, careered, at large, the slim-knee'd, slender steeds. 
 
 It passed. Light Sweeny, as it passed, went also from their view : 1° 
 And conscious only of her task, Lafinda bent anew 
 At Congal's side. She bound his wounds, and asked him, " Has thy 
 
 " heart 
 " At all repented of its sins, unhappy that thou art?" 
 
 " My sins," said Congal, " and my deeds of strife and bloodshed 15 
 " seem 
 " No longer mine, but as the shapes and shadows of a dream: 
 " And I myself, as one oppressed with sleep's deceptive shows, 
 " Awaking only now to life, when life is at its close." 
 
 " Oh, grant," she cried with tender joy, " Thou, who alone canst 20 
 " save, 
 " That this awaking be to light and life beyond the grave !" 
 
 •Twas then the long-corroded links of life's mysterious chain 
 Snapped softly; and his mortal change passed upon Congal Claen. 
 
v.J Congal 147 
 
 As sank the limbs relaxed in death, from Brigid's neighbouring cell, 
 With clang importunate began the Sisters' morning hell. 
 She closed the eyes ; the straightened limbs in comely posture laid ; 
 And, going with submissive steps, the call to prayer obeyed. 
 
 Then Ardan spread his hands to heaven, and said, " I stand 5 
 "alone, 
 " Last wreck remaining of a Power and Order overthrown, 
 " Much needing solace : and, ah me, not in the empty lore 
 " Of Bard or Druid does my soul find peace or comfort more ; 
 " Nor in the bells or crooked staves or sacrificial shows 10 
 
 " Find I the help my soul desires, or in the chaunts of those 
 " Who claim our Druids' vacant place. Alone and faint, I crave, 
 " Oh God, one ray of Heavenly light to help me to the grave, 
 " Such even as thou, dead Congal, hadst ; that so, these eyes of mine 
 " May look their last on earth and heaven with calmness such as 15 
 " thine." 
 
 The wicket opened once again, and forth came Seniors four, 
 Who, raising Congal on a bier, the royal body bore 
 Into the consecrated close. While yet half open lay 
 The wicket-gate, the distant sounds of tumult and affray 20 
 
 Came on the breeze. 
 
 " Old man," said one ; " approaching foes begin 
 " To fill the vale with death. If thou wouldst save thy life, 
 " come in." 
 
148 Congal. [v. 
 
 " Servants of Brigid," Ardan said. " To God be thankful praise, 
 " Who turns the hearts of men like you towards me in tender ways : 
 " Yet, since my King has found the peace I seek to share, outside 
 " Your Saint's enclosure, here will I the will of Heaven abide." 
 
 "On his own head, Lord, not on ours," they said, "let he the 5 
 " blame." 
 And closed the gate ; while up the hill the hosts of Domnal came. 
 
NOTES. 
 
TABLE OF NOTES. 
 
 
 Text. 
 
 
 Notes. 
 
 No. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Page. 
 
 Line. 
 
 
 Page. 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 Bath-Keltar - 
 
 153 
 
 2 
 
 » 
 
 5 
 
 Her high sun-harbouring bower - * 
 
 160 
 
 3 
 
 » 
 
 17 
 
 Land of Light 
 
 » 
 
 4 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 Upcasting the gay green turf 
 
 162 
 
 5 
 
 » 
 
 10 
 
 Sweeny, King of Dalaray 
 
 164 
 
 6 
 
 )» 
 
 16 
 
 Ben-Borcha's barriers 
 
 165 
 
 7 
 
 3 
 
 1 
 
 In virtue of the Red-Branch bond 
 
 166 
 
 8 
 
 5 
 
 4 
 
 That unjust decree enacted at Drumkeat 
 
 J» 
 
 9 
 
 » 
 
 10 
 
 Beside the Strand-End Yews 
 
 168 
 
 10 
 
 ») 
 
 14 
 
 Cuchullin 
 
 » 
 
 1L 
 
 )» 
 
 22 
 
 Dun-Dealga 
 
 174 
 
 12 
 
 6 
 
 5 
 
 Malcova 
 
 J» 
 
 13 
 
 )) 
 
 20 
 
 Sacred Poet-speeeh 
 
 175 
 
 14 
 
 7 
 
 14 
 
 Where thou seest the cairn at top 
 
 » 
 
 15 
 
 8 
 
 2 
 
 The power to blight 
 
 »» 
 
 16 
 
 9 
 
 2 
 
 The dire, disqualifying stain 
 
 179 
 
 17 
 
 10 
 
 20 
 
 Saint Buan 
 
 3» 
 
 18 
 
 12 
 
 17 
 
 Cical and his hunter-tribes - 
 
 181 
 
 19 
 
 13 
 
 11 
 
 Ben-Edar's cairns 
 
 )» 
 
 20 
 
 14 
 
 14 
 
 Herdsman Borcha 
 
 182 
 
 21 
 
 ») 
 
 17 
 
 Gobau with his mason train 
 
 » 
 
 22 
 
 16 
 
 16 
 
 Tumultuous Moyle - 
 
 183 
 
 23 
 
 ») 
 
 23 
 
 Muirthevn6 
 
 ») 
 
 24 
 
 17 
 
 ] 
 
 The weird De Danaan kings - - - 
 
 » 
 
 25 
 
 )) 
 
 9 
 
 The great sea-cataract 
 
 ») 
 
 26 
 
 22 
 
 8 
 
 Brigid's cell 
 
 184 
 
 27 
 
 23 
 
 13 
 
 Hermit Ere 
 
 185 
 
 28 
 
 24 
 
 18 
 
 Dunangay 
 
 186 
 
 29 
 
 25 
 
 24 
 
 Emain Macha 
 
 ») 
 
 30 
 
 26 
 
 22 
 
 Underwood of genealogy 
 
 191 
 
 31 
 
 29 
 
 21 
 
 Sweeny Menn 
 
 ») 
 
 32 
 
 30 
 
 3 
 
 Eochaid Buie 
 
 » 
 
 33 
 
 3) 
 
 14 
 
 Troy Bury 
 
 192 
 
152 
 
 Table of Notes. 
 
 
 Text. 
 
 
 Notes. 
 
 No. 
 
 Page. 
 
 Line. 
 
 
 Page. 
 
 34 
 
 31 
 
 2 
 
 Garr-Congail 
 
 195 
 
 35 
 
 36 
 
 5 
 
 Pictish Qwendoleu 
 
 » 
 
 36 
 
 37 
 
 3 
 
 Eochaid, King of Britain 
 
 197 
 
 37 
 
 41 
 
 9 
 
 Bealfarsad 
 
 198 
 
 38 
 
 »» 
 
 22 
 
 Dun-Money 
 
 » 
 
 39 
 
 45 
 
 1 
 
 Caer Leon 
 
 201 
 
 40 
 
 )» 
 
 5 
 
 Maen Amber 
 
 )» 
 
 41 
 
 51 
 
 23 
 
 Invading Asclepid 
 
 202 
 
 42 
 
 52 
 
 23 
 
 'Twixt Ullar's and OHarva's founts 
 
 )5 
 
 43 
 
 53 
 
 19 
 
 His mantle skirted stiff with soil 
 
 206 
 
 44 
 
 57 
 
 23 
 
 The Washer of the Ford 
 
 » 
 
 45 
 
 59 
 
 8 
 
 Troy-Brena 
 
 207 
 
 46 
 
 70 
 
 16 
 
 The Waring's axe 
 
 JJ 
 
 47 
 
 74 
 
 6 
 
 Wizard Clanna Nemed 
 
 208 
 
 48 
 
 76 
 
 24 
 
 Laery Mac Neill 
 
 j) 
 
 49 
 
 78 
 
 1 
 
 Murkearta, son of Ere 
 
 209 
 
 50 
 
 » 
 
 5 
 
 Lewy Mac Laery 
 
 210 
 
 51 
 
 81 
 
 10 
 
 On Moyrah's fated field 
 
 211 
 
 52 
 
 82 
 
 5 
 
 The fosse the Black Boar scooped 
 
 212 
 
 53 
 
 83 
 
 15 
 
 The route King Dathi took - 
 
 » 
 
 54 
 
 85 
 
 9 
 
 Cattle-plundering Maev 
 
 JJ 
 
 55 
 
 ») 
 
 24 
 
 By mere enchantment of his gaze 
 
 213 
 
 56 
 
 86 
 
 17 
 
 Saint Grellan 
 
 214 
 
 57 
 
 88 
 
 23 
 
 Clans of the Martin - 
 
 216 
 
 58 
 
 89 
 
 6 
 
 Scyth, Agathyrs and Gelon - 
 
 218 
 
 59 
 
 90 
 
 5 
 
 The three Collas 
 
 220 
 
 60 
 
 90 
 
 24 
 
 Curoi and his Ernaan Knights 
 
 223 
 
 61 
 
 91 
 
 3 
 
 The Strand of Ventry 
 
 225 
 
 62 
 
 95 
 
 11 
 
 Patrick's bell and Columb's gospels 
 
 227 
 
 63 
 
 103 
 
 4 
 
 So light and swift he ran 
 
 n 
 
 64 
 
 104 
 
 10 
 
 Hurdle-causeways 
 
 238 
 
 65 
 
 107 
 
 4 
 
 Selvach, son of Fercar 
 
 229 
 
 66 
 
 )> 
 
 8 
 
 Count their Easters by the Soman moons 
 
 290 
 
 67 
 
 » 
 
 23 
 
 Turns his plough away 
 
 231 
 
 68 
 
 118 
 
 12 
 
 Clapped applauding hands 
 
 232 
 
 69 
 
 J 24 
 
 5 
 
 Caenfalla Olliolson 
 
 )» 
 
 70 
 
 144 
 
 1 
 
 Bellowing creatures of the glade 
 
 233 
 
NOTES. 
 
 1. "From steep Rath-Keltar gate.'" (page 1, line 3.) 
 The great earthen fort at Downpatrick has borne the several names of Rath- 
 Keltair, from its founder ; Dun-da-leth-glaisse, from the natural features of the 
 site, or (as was long supposed) in the sense of the Fort of the Broken Fetter- 
 links, from a pretty legend, told by Jocelyn, of an angel having broken the bonds 
 of a captive miraculously transported thither ; and Dun-Patraic, from the dis- 
 tinction claimed for the adjoining church of being the depository of St. Patrick's 
 relics. 
 
 It bore the first name in the remote period chronicled in the Tain of 
 Cuailgne, and continued to bear it down to the time of De Courcy. In the Tain 
 we find a picture presenting the popular idea of the appearance of its founder, 
 Keltar, son of Uitechar : — 
 
 " ' There has come another troop upon the smooth plain of Meath,' quoth Mac Roth ; 
 
 ' and their armament is sparkling like fire, in their rapid movement Their battalions 
 
 are full and fierce in their might ; and they have flowery mantles on them ; and n noise of 
 thunder is the sound of the tramp of then 1 rapid marching. And a huge, generous, terrible 
 warrior is the champion of that band. He has a great nose ; and like an apple the ball of 
 his eye. His hair is red, strong, half grey ; and a grey-black cloak is upon him. And an 
 iron bodkin is fastened in his cloak over his breast, that reaches from one shoulder to the 
 other. And he has on a shaggy, curiously-woven shirt. A grey shield, and a huge spear in 
 his hand ; and his death-dealing sword of seven plates of iron has thirty rivets in it, and is 
 inlaid over its side and back.'" — (Tain bo Cuailgne, O'Curry, MS.) 
 
 The wife of this formidable personage is represented in the same repertory 
 of ancient historic tradition as defending the still older stronghold of Dunseverick 
 against the invasion of Maev and her hosts, while her husband is presenting 
 
154 Notes. 
 
 these warlike traits in the field. The hall of Dunseverick, the scene of Fergus 
 Mac Roy's ill-timed festivities (referred to in note 7), has long since disappeared ; 
 but enough remains of this other dwelling of Keltar to show that, in the pro- 
 fundity of its ditch and airy steepness of its green-sloped ramparts, it originally 
 fell little short of the grandeur of Old Sarum itself. 
 
 From the MS. of a lecture delivered at Downpatrick in October, 1864, by 
 the Rev. William Reeves, D.D., I am allowed to extract some further particulars 
 of this locality. Dr. Reeves joins to the solidity and accuracy of Camden a 
 charm peculiar to himself, by which the driest details of topography and chron- 
 ology are made delightful. There is not a parish, scarcely a townland, in the 
 counties of Deny, Down and Antrim over which he has not breathed an air from 
 the ancient humanities, which imparts picturesqueness and animation to what used 
 to be one of the bleakest fields of investigation in all the circuit of Ireland. If we 
 seek to discover the sources of his power, we find nothing but statements of 
 matter of fact, expressed with lucidity and masculine brevity. It is in the order 
 and presentation of his facts that this great master of Scottish topographical 
 history — using the word Scottish in its old acceptation — excels all who have gone 
 before him : — 
 
 " The word Down is an English form of the Celtic Dun, which signifies a ' fortress,' 
 and in some of our most ancient records is Latinized by munitio. The dun of the ancient 
 Irish was the fortified abode of the king or chief. It was a military term, and the structure 
 which was so called often obtained another name in a social point of view, namely, that of 
 rath, which denoted an abode or house, just as the regal abode at Windsor may be regarded in 
 one point of view as a castle, and in another as a palace. Now you have here beside us one 
 of the noblest remains of a primitive Irish palace which is to be found in Ireland. No one 
 can walk round these fosses and entrenchments without being forcibly struck by their extent 
 and boldness. If disposed to cany the imagination backwards, we may picture to the mind the 
 stirring scenes which passed here when this great munition was in its full strength and beauty, 
 and filled by a dense assembly of rude but powerful occupants ; when its trenches were deep 
 and filled with water, when its ramparts were lofty and pallisadoed, and when chiefs with their 
 golden collars, and bards with then' tuneful harps, represented the military and social excel- 
 lence of their day. It is now 120 years since Harris thus described this object : — ' The fort 
 or rath at Downpatrick, lying on the N.W. side of the town, takes up a vast extent of ground, 
 and comprehends at least three-fourths of an English mile within the circuit of all the works. 
 The circumference of it is 2,100 feet, the conical height CO feet, the diameter at the top 
 
Notes. ] 55 
 
 bearing a proportion with the other parts. Three great artificial ramparts surround it, the 
 most considerable of which is 30 feet broad.' In 1834 it was visited by the great authority in 
 Irish literature and topography, the late Dr. John O'Donovan, who, in a letter to the Ordnance 
 Survey Office, dated April 28, thus writes concerning it : — ' I have just finished the comparison 
 of King's account of Lord Cromwell's lands and estates as originally granted and in his 
 possession. The rath near Downpatrick is the largest barbaric fortress I have yet met. Sir 
 James King called it, in 1612, " the round mount, alias Downeroskae ; but it is unquestion- 
 ably the Dun Celtair and Arx Lethglasse of the old writers of the life of St. Patrick. Down- 
 eroskae seems a name derived from its situation, and signifying " the fortress in the marsh." 
 It was anciently and to a late period almost entirely surrounded with water, and that port of 
 it to which there was access from dry land is considerably higher and more steep than 
 where it was surrounded by the water. The new county gaol and the fort of Celtchar 
 vie with each other in size : the former is a good specimen of the application of modern 
 architectural strength to the suppression of crime, and the latter a grand example of the 
 endeavours of mankind to secure themselves from the incursions of enemies in turbulent and 
 lawless times, ere they had learned to build such perishable edifices as are formed of stone. 
 The county gaol may stand for a few centuries, but the fort of Celtchar will brave 09 many 
 storms as Slieve Donard.' 
 
 " This chief, from whom the fort derived its ancient name of Dun-Celtair or Eath-Celtair, 
 was one of the celebrated heroes of the Eed Branch, descended from Bury Mor, in the illus- 
 trious line of the Clanna Kury. He was son of Uitechar, son of Fachtna, son of Eury ; and 
 Conchobhar Mac Nessa, King of Ulster, was brother of his father Uitechar. Cumscraigh, 
 son of this Conor Mac Nessa, was his first cousin, and he was King of Ulster, reigning at 
 Eamania a.d. 53. The name of this Cumscraigh was preserved in this immediate neigh- 
 bourhood in Iniscumhscraid, the ancient name of Inch. The exact date of Celtchar is un- 
 certain ; but, calculating from his contemporaries and the allusions in bardic history, we may 
 make an approximation to it, and place it about the Christian era. He was one of the twelve 
 chiefs of Ulster under Fergus Mac Eoigh, King of Ulster. He was a valiant chief and a great 
 warrior, so that the epithet of Celtair na gcath — ' Celtor of the Battles ' — is generally applied 
 to him. His spear, called the Luin Ban Celtchair, was also celebrated in song ; and having 
 been found after the battle of Moy Tuiredh, descended to him, who hurled it with such fearful 
 effect that it became an object of terror and mythological virtue. There is a very ancient 
 Irish romance preserved, called the Tain-bo-Cuailgne, or cattle spoil of Cooley, the principal 
 subjects of which are a series of encounters between the forces of the famous Meave, Queen 
 ofConnacht, and the Ulster heroes. In this curious composition Queen Meave is represented 
 on one occasion, in reply to the prediction of evil delivered by the prophetess, as exclaiming 
 in the rapture of anticipated success : — 
 
 " ' Cumscraidh of Macha is in Inis-Cumscraidh in his debility. Celtchar son of Uithechar 
 is in his debility within his fort of Dun-leth-glaisse, with a third part of the Ultonians round 
 him. I ask, then, who it is likely has come to visit us ? It is not likely that it is Celtchar — 
 the destroying stone of the enemies of the province, and the chief of them all, and the battle- 
 gate of Ulster ; and although there were before him in one place, and in one assembly, and 
 
15G Notes. 
 
 in one movement, and in one encampment, and on one hill all the men of Erin from west to 
 east, and from south to north, hattle he would give them, before him they would retreat, and 
 he it is that would not be routed.' 
 
 "On another occasion, when the Western forces were encamped at Slewin, in Westmeath, 
 as he drew near, Who is he ? said Ailill to Fergus. ' We know indeed now,' said King Fergus. 
 ' He is half a battle, he is the head of contention, he is the head of valour, he is a sea over the 
 lands, he who comes is Celtchar, son of Uitechor ; from the fort of Leth-glass, in the north) 
 is he.' 
 
 " His death also was recorded in a romance called the Aided Celtair, or Tragical 
 Death of Celtchar. If we may believe the old genealogies, his descendants ramified and 
 acquired possessions in the south, and the famous S. Finian, the founder of Clonard, the 
 ancient see of Meath, was twelfth in descent from him. 
 
 " This great dun may have been his doing : at all events it bore his name for ages after. 
 The Irish annals, at the year 733, state that Bresal, son of Aedh Hoin, King of Ulster, was 
 slain at Dun Celtchair ; and even so late as the twelfth century, John de Courcy, in a charter 
 connected with Down, speaks of the Church of the Holy Trinity in Sathkeltar; and the 
 Annals of Innisfallen, still later, at 1304, make mention of Dundalethglas alias Aras Cealtrach. 
 Also the Life of S. Brigid, by Anmchadh or Animosus, which is of respectable antiquity, de- 
 scribes Down as a city situate in Ulster, near the sea, called Dun-da-lethglas ; which in 
 ancient times was known as Arx Ceoltair, son of Uithechair, comrade of Conor Mac Nessa, 
 King of Ulster. 
 
 " Thus amidst all the fiction and hyperbole which characterize the bardic stories of 
 Ireland, we can, in this case, discern some vestiges of true history, and pronounce of this 
 dun that, about the Christian era, it was the abode of a famous chief far and wide renowned 
 for his military exploits ; that he belonged to a distinguished race which left its impress upon 
 many places in the vicinity, where their names are to this day preserved ; and that many of 
 the principal families of the adjacent districts derived their origin from the stock to which he 
 belonged. 
 
 " One word more about his date before I leave him. The native legend states that 
 Conor Mac Nessa, his kinsman, the King of Ulster, when he heard of the crucifixion of 
 Christ, exclaimed, ' How sad that is ; for if I were now there present, I would slay all that 
 are around my King, now engaged in putting him to death.' This story reminds one of the 
 case of Clovis, the great King of the Franks, who, when he was a-baptising, in 495, and heard 
 the missionary, S. Eemigius, relate the particulars of the crucifixion, exclaimed with excite- 
 ment, ' Had I been there, with my Franks, it should not have been so.' " 
 
 We shall have to return to Rath-Keltar in illustration of matter further on 
 
 (see note 3). Another word respecting the name Dun-da-leth-glaisse. As we have 
 
 seen that the name appears to have been known before Christianity, and the 
 
 legend of Joeelyn must, so, be abandoned, one would suppose that some such 
 
 expression as Fort- Green-Sides, or the Fortress of the Twin-Green-Slopes, would 
 
Notes. 157 
 
 express the original idea. But that highly learned though very speculative writer, 
 Algernon Herbert, will have it that our dun took that name also from its founder ; 
 that, its founder being one of the Cruithne or Picts of Ulster, we should deem him 
 a painted man, and that his name was Blue-Sides ; just as Argentocoxus, of the 
 same race and about the same period in North Britain, was Silver-Hip. See 
 this singularly learned and ingenious disquisition in the Appendix to the Irish 
 Nennius in the publications of the Irish Archasological Society. 
 
 If now, is should be asked, how it comes that glass is rendered " green " in 
 the one connection, and " blue " in the other, the answer must be that this 
 chamelion-like vocable is usually found in forms of comparison associated with 
 objects of known colour, and varies in its own complexion accordingly. As, for 
 instance, " more glass than the flower of the flax-plant " ; " more glass than the 
 iron fresh from the hammer" ; " more glass than the herbage in April." But the 
 primary sense seems to be cceruleus, the equivalent of the herb glaston, with which 
 the ancient Britons executed their tatooings, rightly rendered by the wood of 
 commerce, which yields a dark blue dye. 
 
 Keltar's blade of mythological virtue, above referred to, figures among the 
 oldest creations of the vivid Celtic imagination. The same idea exists in Norse 
 and German, and may be recognized in the sword of the headsman which rattles 
 in the scabbard when one destined for the block passes by ; but the Irish notion 
 is the most wildly picturesque and terrible of all the forms of this popular fancy. 
 Mr. W. M. Hennessy, M.K.I.A., who has an appreciative eye for whatever is 
 most characteristic in native Irish lore, extracts for me the text of the following 
 passage from the old Tale of the Bruidhin Da Derga : — 
 
 What further sawest thou ? 
 
 By the royal chair, 
 A couch I saw. Three heroes sat thereon. 
 In their first greyncss, they ; grey-dark their robes ; 
 Grey-dark their swords, enormous, of an edge 
 To slice the hair on water. He who sits 
 
158 Notes. 
 
 The midmost of the three, grasps with both hands 
 
 A spear of fifty rivets ; and so sways 
 
 And swings the weapon, which would else give forth 
 
 Its shout of conflict, that he keeps it in ; 
 
 Though thrice, essaying to escape his hands, 
 
 It doubles, darting on him, heel-to-point. 
 
 A cauldron at his feet ; big as the vat 
 
 Of a king's guest-house. In that vat, a pool 
 
 Hideous to look upon, of liquor black. 
 
 Therein he dips and cools the blade by times ; 
 
 Else all its shaft would blaze, as though a fire 
 
 Had wrapped the king-post of the house in flames. 
 
 Resolve me now, and say what 'twas I saw. 
 
 Not hard to say. These champion-warriors three 
 Are Sencha, beauteous son of Olioll ; 
 Dubthach, the fierce Ulidian addercop ; 
 And Goibnen, son of Luignech : and the spear 
 In hands of Dubthach, is the famous Lon 
 Of Keltar, son of Uitechar, which erst 
 Some wizard of the Tuath-da-Danaan brought 
 To battle at Moy-Tura ; and there lost. 
 Found after. And these motions of the spear, 
 And sudden sallies hard to be restrained, 
 Affect it, oft as blood of enemies 
 Is ripe for spilling. And a cauldron, then, 
 Full of witch-brewage, needs must be at hand, 
 To quench it, when the homicidal act 
 Is by its blade expected. Quench it not, — 
 It blazes up, even in the holder's hand ; 
 And through the holder, and the door-planks through, 
 Flies forth to sate itself in massacre. 
 
Notes. 159 
 
 The sword of Finn is said to have been the child of this terrible parent ; 
 and is known in Irish romance as the mac-in-luinn, or " Son of the Blade." Hence 
 conies the " Son of Luno," the sword of Fingal, in the Ossian of Mac Pherson. 
 It is an instance of the reality of the material on which this great Scottish genius 
 exercised his powers. Not knowing the nature of the allusion, he turned it to 
 the best account his imagination could devise ; as must always be, more or less, 
 the recourse of poets, as long as man delights in the reproduction of material 
 drawn from the obscure recesses of heroic times. But here was no fabrication ; 
 and ought to be no obloquy. Mac Pherson has been grievously ill-used both by 
 assailants and defenders ; but worse by the latter, who (possibly including him- 
 self) lie under a grave suspicion of having fabricated Gaelic equivalents for some 
 of his finest English ideas, rather than admit his English to have had no Gaelic 
 original. He would not confess that his originals had been helped, expurgated 
 of puerilities and vulgarities, marshalled into a coherent, though erroneous, 
 sequence of events, and exalted throughout by the infusion of his own pervading 
 grandeur of thought. To this extent, he loved Scotland better than truth: 
 but the candid enquirer will add, better also than fame for himself. When I 
 see the conventional contempt in which this great poet is now held, especially 
 by Irish writers whose own Ossianic fragments have been vulgarized by trans- 
 mission through channels far more corrupting than the pure and high-toned 
 Highland tradition that gave his material to Mac Pherson — see the Dean of 
 Lismore's charming book, passim, — I am tempted to exclaim, in the words of 
 D'Arcy M'Gee— 
 
 " 0, clear-eyed Poets, ye who can descry, 
 Through vulgar heaps of dead, where heroes lie ; 
 Ye, to whose glance the primal mist is clear, 
 Behold there lies a slaughtered Noble here." 
 
 The "Debility" of the Ultonians, also referred to by Dr. Beeves, opens up 
 an enquiry which has a more substantial bearing on the realities of human life, 
 and on those customs which argue an identity of race between the early inhabi- 
 tants of Western Europe and the scattered savage populations of the modern 
 
160 Notes. 
 
 world. Some farther reference to this singular subject will be found in note 29. 
 " Eman Macha." 
 
 2. " Her high sun-harbouring bower." (page 1, line 5.) 
 
 The Irish grianan corresponds exactly to the Anglo-Norman Solar or 
 " Snn-chamber." Grianan is also applied, as solarium is, to a sunny dwelling, 
 site or locality. It may have a connection with the heliocaminus of Ulpian, 
 which appears to have involved the principle of ventilation through the agency of 
 air rarefied by the sunbeams, and for the enjoyment of which a special easement 
 existed in the Roman law (Alex, ab Alex. 1. v. c. v.). For a charming appli- 
 cation of the idea, see the Farewell to Alba of Deirdre, where she designates 
 the dwelling in Glen Etive — the scene of her short-lived happiness in her exile 
 with the sons of Usnach — by the epithet " Snn-town." 
 
 3. "Westward, o'er the Land of Light." (page 1, line 17.) 
 
 The district which, in the century after the epoch of Congal, received the 
 name of Leth-Cathail, or Lecale, by which it is now known, is said, in the 
 fables of the hagiologists, to have been illuminated by a supernatural radiance 
 for twelve nights after the decease of St. Patrick, who died at his " barn- 
 church " of Saul, in the neighbourhood of Downpatrick : and from this belief 
 it obtained the name of Trioched-na-Soillse, or the " Cantred of Light," by 
 which it is designated in some of the Annals. Another name of the same 
 tract of country was Murbholg, or the Sea-Pouch, from that land-locked form 
 of the shore which still makes Dundrum Bay a name of ill-omen to mariners. 
 Its earliest designation, however, was Moy-inis. And here I shall borrow 
 again from the Downpatrick Lecture, as forestalling much of the historic 
 
Notes. 161 
 
 material on which the plot of " Congal" is constructed. A perusal of Dr. Reeves's 
 account of the events which led to the transfer of the royal seat of Uladh from 
 Emania to Rath-Keltar, and from Rath-Keltar to Rath-Mor of Moylinne, in 
 Antrim, where it was constituted at the epoch of Congal, will make plain many 
 allusions in the text which it might be wearisome to iilustrate by separate notes : — 
 
 " This great fort of Celtchar then may be regarded as the nucleus of the city of Down- 
 patrick ; and few towns in Ireland have had so advantageous a start. At that time the 
 peninsular district, now known as the barony of Lecale, was called Magh-Iiris, or 'plain of 
 the island,' agreeably to the usage of the natives, who frequently applied the term Inls, or 
 island, to a tract not entirely surrounded by water, as, for instance, your Inch, near this, of 
 which I have already spoken, and Inis-Eoghain, &c, and Island Magee, in the County 
 Antrim. At that period it was even more applicable to the district than it now is, for 
 Strangford Lough penetrated more inland than it does at present, and many green fields 
 that now are were then submerged, and the extension of the watery domain more nearly 
 closed the territory. The Magh, or Moy, as applied to it, indicated its clearance from wood, 
 and shows that at a very early period the tide of population had occupied this inviting and 
 beautifully-circumstanced expanse of ground. At a.d. 823 Magh-Inis ceases in the annals, 
 and Letli-Cathail [takes its place] from 850 forward. Cathal. flor. circ. TOO. His grand- 
 father, Aengus, of Ulaidh, died 665, and Maelcobha, his father, was born in 646. Eath- 
 Celtair was its capital ; and if the importance of a little kingdom may be estimated by the 
 extent and splendour of its metropolis, Moy-Inis was surely a highly productive and in- 
 fluential part of Ireland. 
 
 "But in the course of the four succeeding centuries, a gradual change seems to have 
 taken place in the condition of the dominant inhabitants of the plain ; and the power which 
 was for ages enjoyed by the Clanna Bury, of the race of Ir, was transferred to, or shared with, 
 another race, which was powerful in the regions west and south-west of Down ; and by 
 degrees a branch of the descendants of Heremon, another son of Milesius, extended them- 
 selves eastwards, and eventually acquired the ascendant here, while the old occupants spread 
 more northwards into Antrim, and retained their footing in Kinelarty and Iveagh. This was 
 the race which produced the illustrious house of O'Neill, and gave to Ireland a longer line of 
 chief sovereigns than any other. 
 
 " Fiatach Finn, of the race of Heremon, was King of Ulster in 106, and became 
 monarch of Ireland in 116. He was the founder of a powerful dynasty, called the Dal- 
 Fiatach, or descendants of Fiatach ; and of sixty-eight recorded kings or chiefs of Uladh, from 
 the middle of the fourth century to the period of the English conquest, all derived then- origin 
 from him, except twelve, who, at intervals, were supplied from the race of Bury. 
 
 " The fortunes of both races, however, were greatly impaired in the year 332, when the 
 three Collas — three brothers, one of whom, Colla Uais, or Colla the Noble, had been monarch 
 of Ireland and dethroned, — returned from Scotland, where they had taken refuge, and having 
 gathered a great host, engaged in a battle with the Ulstermen at Carn-achad-leith-dheirg, near 
 
162 Notes. 
 
 Carrickniacross, in Farney, which lasted seven days ; and, having utterly routed them, seized 
 their palace Emania, and destroyed it, so that it was never again inhabited by its old masters. 
 And the Ulster chiefs were driven eastwards, and their two great races confined within the 
 limits of the present counties of Down and Antrim ; being bounded on the east by the sea, 
 and on the west by the Bann, Lough Neagh, and a line of earthen ramparts extending south- 
 wards from Portadown to Newry, in the valley along which the canal and railway run, which 
 was called Glenn Eee, where there are still existing large traces of those remains at various 
 intervals. It resembled the earthen wall which was constructed by the Eoman Agricola, and 
 restored by Antoninus, between Glasgow and Edinburgh, to prevent the incursions of the 
 Picts and Scots. 
 
 "From 3.33 down, the name of TJladh became confined to this circumscribed territory, 
 and whenever we meet with it in history after that date it refers only to the territory now 
 represented by the Counties of Down and Antrim. Emania being now and for ever taken 
 from the Ultonians or Ulidians, the fort of Downpatrick became the head-quarters of the race, 
 and the place of greatest importance in their reduced kingdom. 
 
 " We now approach that important period in the history of Ireland when that great 
 revolution took place — the overthrow of Paganism by Christianity. At this time Muredach 
 Muinderg, ninth in descent from Fiatach Finn, was on the throne of Uladh, and, having 
 reigned twenty-eight years, was succeeded by his son, Eochaidh, who died after a reign of 
 twenty-four years. He is stated to have continued an unbeliever and a murderer. His 
 crown was transferred to Cairill, his brother. Then, about 496, took place the Expug- 
 natio Dit'nilethglaisse. The King of Uladh at this epoch was Saran, son of Caelbadh, an 
 ancestor of the Magennises of Iveagh, of the house of Rury, and his chief abode was at 
 Eath-Mor, in Moylinny, near the town of Antrim, which was the seat of the Dalaradians, a 
 branch of the descendants of Eury. The transfer of the palace of this race to that position 
 was probably caused by the growing power of the Daljiatach, who had acquired the ascen- 
 dency in Moy-Inis." 
 
 Some remnants of Rathmore still exist on the road leading from Antrim to 
 Parkgate. But it is not suspected by those who plough around its base that 
 these mouldering earthworks possess a history. 
 
 4. " Upcasting the gay green turf." (page 2, line 1.) 
 
 This is a favourite image both in Irish and Welsh romantic literature. 
 The mounted warrior nowhere appears in a more graceful and captivating form 
 than in Welsh Bardic composition. We are indebted to Lady Charlotte Guest 
 for one of the most animated and charming of this class of pictures in her trans- 
 lation of the Mabinogi of the Twrch Trwyth : — 
 
Notes. 163 
 
 "And the youth pricked forth upon a steed with head dappled grey, and four winters' old, 
 firm of limb, with shell-formed hoofs, having a bridle of linked gold on his head, and upon 
 him a saddle of costly gold. And in the youth's hand were two spears of silver, sharp, well- 
 tempered, headed with steel, three ells in length, of an edge to wound the wind, and cause 
 blood to flow, and swifter than the fall of the dew-drop from the blade of the reed-grass upon 
 the earth, when the dew of June is at the heaviest. A gold-hilted sword was upon his thigh, 
 the blade of which was of [steel], bearing a cross of inlaid gold, [and] of the hue of the 
 lightning of heaven. His war-horn was of ivory. Before him were two brindled white- 
 breasted greyhounds, having strong collars of rubies about their necks, reaching from the 
 shoulder to the ear. And the one that was on the left side bounded across to the right side, 
 and the one on tbe right side to the left, and like two sea-swallows sported around him. And 
 his courser cast up four sods with his four hoofs, like four swallows in the air, now above, 
 now below." — (Mabinogion ii. 252.) 
 
 The same imagery repeatedly presents itself in Irish Bardic composition ; but 
 nowhere more vividly, or with grander associations, than in the introductory part 
 of the " Phantom-Chariot of Cuchullin," where the apparition of the champion 
 ascends at the bidding of St. Patrick, to testify to the disbelieving Leaghaire (the 
 Laery of the text) of the existence of the hell of the Christians. I cite a 
 passage from the translation by Mr. Crowe, which, while literal to verbal identity, 
 is not unworthy of a place in the same page with the elegant and expressive 
 English of Lady Charlotte Guest : — 
 
 " I saw the cold, piercing wind, like a spear. Little [difference was it] that 
 
 it took not our hair from our heads, and that it went not through ourselves to the earth. I 
 
 asked [concerning] the wind of Benen Benen said to me ' That is the wind of 
 
 Hell, after the opening of it before Cu-Chulaind.' We saw, then, the heavy thick fog which 
 dropped upon us. I asked [concerning] that heavy fog also of Benen. Benen said, these 
 were the breaths of men and of horses that were traversing the plain before me. We saw, 
 then, the great raven-flock above us, above : the country was full of them; and it was among 
 the clouds of heaven they were for their height. I asked [concerning] the matter of Benen. 
 Benen said they were sods from the shoes of the horses that were under Cu-Chulaind's chariot. 
 
 We then saw the forms of the horses through the mist, and of the men who were 
 
 in the chariot. A charioteer behind them on high he is above evaporations and 
 
 breathings." 
 
 The reader who may be induced by this fine exordium to peruse the remainder 
 of the piece, either in the original Lebor-na-h' Uidre (which is now accessible in fac 
 simile; thanks, mainly, to Mr. Gilbert, F.S.A., Librarian of the Royal Irish 
 
164 Notes. 
 
 Academy), or in Mr. Crowe's text and translation in the Kilkenny Archse- 
 ologia, will experience some surprise at finding the conclusion of the " Phantom- 
 Chariot" mean and puerile — I might almost say vulgar, save that a manuscript 
 of the eleventh century has a prescriptive title to more respect. This, however, 
 cannot be said of the description of the living Cuchullin's Chariot in the Tain, 
 or in Mac Pherson's Ossian, which is magnificent both in itself and in its acces- 
 sories. 
 
 Another Welsh characteristic may be noticed in Congal's cavalcade. I 
 refer to the opening stanza of the Gododin, which I render entire for the sake of 
 the completeness of the picture and of the harmony. In the original, one seems 
 to feel the ictus of the harp-string at every word : — 
 
 " Young — yet — manly he ; 
 Warrior hardier none could be ; 
 Red — spread — the mane did fly 
 Of the slim-bright steed beneath his thigh. 
 
 " Light, large, the buckler lay 
 Across the croupe of the bright-fleet bay : 
 Great the weight of the blue blade cold ; 
 And a flash of light from his spurs of gold." 
 
 5. "Sweeny, King of Dahtruy." {jm<je 2, line 10.) 
 This Sweeny, son of Colman Ker, has an existence both in historic and 
 romantic story. His territory of Dalaradia embraced portions of the present 
 County of Down and of the southern and central parts of Antrim ; and is not to 
 be confounded with the Irish district of Dalriada, which comprised the residue 
 of the latter county. The bounds and history of Dalaradia will be found at large 
 in Reeves's " Ecclesiastical History of the Diocese of Down and Connor." 
 
 A difficulty will arise in the mind of the reader as soon as the fact discloses 
 itself, that the extent of the nominal kingdom of Congal at this time was little 
 more than conterminous with the sub-kingdom of Sweeny. The relations of those 
 
Notes. 165 
 
 Reguli and Regunculi were probably analogous to those of lord and tenant in 
 Feudal times, with this difference, that the render of tribute was not all on the part 
 of the latter. What Tacitus has described of the reciprocal bestowal of gifts 
 amongst the primitive Germans is found in practice among these little potentates 
 of former days in Ireland. Thus the King of Ulster " distributed stipends to his 
 own kings — viz., twenty horns and twenty swords, and twenty hare-hounds, and 
 twenty bond-men and twenty bond-maids, to the King of Dal-araidha," in return 
 for which he levied such and such refections and supplies of beeves, sheep, oxen, 
 and clothing from his subordinate. The refusal to accept the stipend or subsidy 
 was equivalent to a disclaimer of the authority of the superior ; and the last resort 
 of rebellion short of armed attack. — (Wars of Turlogh MS., E. I. A.) So 
 different have been the ideas of the relative obligations of lord and vassal at 
 different times. 
 
 6. " Ben-Boreha's barriers vast." (page 2, line 16.) 
 Few elevations of the same altitude present features so grand and impressive 
 as the mountain range of Mourne. The present name is said to have been imported 
 from the Crich-Mugdorna, or territory of Cremorne, some time after the settle- 
 ment, in the latter, of that prolific branch of the Clan Colla which afterwards 
 extended itself into the Firvolgic country beyond the Shannon, under the leadership 
 of Maine Mor, and gave new occupants to the region since called, from him, 
 Hy-Maine\ 
 
 Borcha is fabled to have been the Herdsman of one of the early Ulster 
 kings ; and these mountains his herding-seat, from which he used to survey his 
 flocks from Rathlin to the borders of Meath. The popular imagination constantly 
 fabricates mythical beings for its own delight, though with a full knowledge of 
 their unreality ; and this instance may be profitably considered -by those who 
 ascribe to the childishness of vulgar belief many things which are evidences only 
 of the strength of the popular poetic faculty. The Bouchall, or " Herdsman- 
 Mountain " of Etive is a fine instance of the poetry of Highland nomenclature, 
 
166 Notes. 
 
 going a step beyond the giant, and imparting the faculties and duties of man to 
 the presiding summit of the drove of mountains, which seem just let loose from 
 their cloudy pens, around the margin of Loch-Etive. 
 
 7. " In virtue of the Bed-Branch bond." (page 3, line 1.) 
 Associations in the nature of warrior-fraternities existed among the Celtic 
 and Germanic tribes early enough to render it matter of no surprise that we 
 should find something of the same kind in the old social economy of the Rudrician 
 kingdom of Ulster. There are certain test-obligations in all such societies ; and 
 when we are told that the acceptance of the proffered hospitality of a brother of 
 the Order was a duty of obligation among the Companions of the Red Branch, we 
 may well believe that some such rule really existed. The allusion to the Tale of 
 the Sons of Usnach will need no explanation for some of my readers : but for 
 others it may be well to state that, in this fine old romance, the heroine, Deirdre, 
 flies to Scotland — to Glen-Etive — with her lover Naisi, son of Usnach, accom- 
 panied by his brothers and retainers, to escape the vengeance of Conor Mac Nessa, 
 the then King of Ulster, who designed Deirdre for himself. Conor sent his step- 
 father Fergus, son of Roy, to invite back the Clan- Usnach on assurance of pardon. 
 Trusting to the safe conduct of Fergus, they came : but, on landing, Barach, 
 deputed for this purpose by Conor, constrained Fergus, by force of his brotherly 
 obligations, to remain feasting with him. The sons of Usnach, proceeding to 
 Emania under the substituted safe-conduct of Fergus's sons, fell victims to the 
 fury of Conor, who, in re-possessing himself of Deirdre, committed the outrage 
 on kingly honor referred to in the text, and brought about a long sequel of 
 war and disasters on himself. 
 
 8. " That unjust decree enacted at Drumbeat." (paije 5, line 4.) 
 The Synod of Drumkeat, often referred to in the text, was substantially a 
 Parliament largely tinctured by the ecclesiastical element, held in a.d. 590, by 
 
Notes. 167 
 
 King Aed, son of Anmir6, and father of the Domnal of the text. It was an 
 assembly of the same nature as the Comitia which used to be held at Tara and 
 Usnach, with this difference, that the Bards, who were a constituent body of the 
 old assemblies, were here on their trial, and their places filled by the Christian 
 clergy. The causes of the convention are found more at large in Keating than 
 in any other authority known to me : — 
 
 " For summoning this great convention, Aedh hart three principal causes. The first 
 cause was his resolve to banish the Filedha (Filleea), or Poets, out of Ireland, on account of 
 'he greatness of their numbers, and of the difficulty there was both in governing themselves 
 and in satisfying their demands, for the train attendant upon an Ollamh numbered thirty 
 persons j and that attendant upon the Annruth, that is, the person who was next in rank to 
 the Ollamh in the Filedhacht (Filheaght), or Poetic Order, was fifteen. So that, about that 
 epoch, nearly one-third of the men of Ireland belonged to the Poetic Order, all of whom were 
 wont to quarter themselves upon the other inhabitants from the season of Samhain to that of 
 Beltaini. On this account, Aedh considered them to be too heavy a load upon the land of 
 Ireland, and therefore did he propose to expel them from the country. He had also another 
 motive for desiring their expulsion. It was for their having had the audacity to demand the 
 gold brooch that fastened the royal mantle of Aedh. This was a brooch that each king was 
 wont to leave as an heirloom and precious relic to his successor. It was, indeed, their impudent 
 demand of the brooch that more immediately excited Aedh to expel them ; so that he banished 
 them all to the Dal Riada in Ulster. 
 
 " They, that is the Filedha, or members of the Poetic Order, had been previously banished, 
 for their overbearing conduct and unjust judgments, in the days of Concobar Mac Nesa, King 
 of Ulster. At that time, all the Filedha of Ireland were assembled together in one place, and 
 at their meeting there were found to be one thousand Filedha, who were each followed by a 
 band of attendants. They were then making up their minds to go settle in Alba. But when 
 Concobar heard it, he deputed Cuchulainn to detain them, and gave them maintenance for 
 seven years with himself, as the bard relates, &c. 
 
 "After that, the Filedha spread themselves anew throughout Ireland, and they were not 
 again molested until the time of Fiacaidb, son of Baedan, King of Ulster, nor from the time of 
 Fiacaidh to that of Maelcoba, son of Deman, son of Carell, King of Ulster ; nor from the time 
 of Maelcoba to that of Aedh, son of Anmiri. Three times did the men of Ireland refuse to 
 maintain the Filedha, and each time of these did the Ulta uphold them. 
 
 "At the time of their first banishment, when Concobar gave them maintenance for seven 
 years, their number, as I have just said, amounted to one thousand. 
 
 " At the time of their second exile, when they were supported for one year by Fiacaidh, 
 son of Baedan, their number was seven hundred, and at their head was Eocaidh Kigh-Eiges 
 (Eee-Aiguess), as the bard has said, &c. 
 
 " The third time they were exiled they numbered twelve hundred around Dalian Forgail 
 
168 Notes. 
 
 and Senchan. It was at that time that they were supported by Maelcoba, King of Ulster, as 
 the bard has told us." 
 
 He adds the other causes, not necessary to be here particularised ; and 
 enumerates the several eminent persons present. Chief of these was Columba, 
 Abbot of Iona, who attended for the purpose of mitigating the severity of the 
 King's intentions with respect to the Bards, and was so far successful that he 
 obtained them terms of toleration, though on a less oppressive scale of their 
 establishment. Nevertheless, great numbers of them had to disband themselves, 
 or seek shelter among the chieftains of Ulster. The site of the convention was 
 somewhere near Newtownlimavady, on the River Roe, in the County Deny : — 
 
 " The hill called ' The Keady,' which commences about two miles out of Newtownlimavady, 
 might be supposed, from the apparent similarity of the name, to be the spot ; but there can be 
 little doubt that the artificial mound in Roe Park, called ' The Mullach,' and sometimes 'Daisy 
 Hill, 1 is the real Drumceatt. It is situate in a meadow, at a little distance from the house, on 
 the N.W. ; it rises to the height of about twenty feet, and measures about 190 by 170 feet. 
 The prospect from it is exceedingly extensive and varied. There is no local tradition about the 
 spot, except that it is reckoned ' gentle,' and that it is unlucky to cut the sod. The truth is, 
 the effects of the Plantation have utterly effaced all the old associations of the place." — Reeves's 
 Colton's Visitation, p. 133, Ir. Arch. Soc. 
 
 9. " The Strand-End Yen's." (j>uge 5, line 10.) 
 
 Newry is the " Yewry,'' with the letter n of the article an prefixed. The 
 old name in full was lubhar- Chin-tracta, the Yewry at the Strand-Head. 
 
 10. " The nialehless Hound Ouclutllin." (page 5, line 14.) 
 
 Of all the " Pre-Tales " to the Tain of Quelgny, the story of the manner 
 in which Cachullin obtained his name is the most dramatic. The name 
 signifies the Hound of Cullan. Cu, a hound, enters largely into Irish and 
 old British names of persons : Cullan, a man's name, in the nominative, makes 
 in Middle Irish, Chullain (the equivalent of the theoretical old Irish Cullani) in 
 
Notes. 169 
 
 the genitive. Hence, Hound-of-CulIan in composition becomes Cu-Chullain ; 
 aud this again being subjected to declension, undergoes its oblique changes 
 separately in its constituent parts, as the "Sick-bed of Cuchullin " Seirglighe 
 Chon-Chullain, the Chon being the genitive of Gu. Latin names beginning 
 with Con, seem to have been regarded alike by Britons, Picts, and Scots as 
 genitives of compounds in Cu. Thus Constantine is equated by Cu-Santin and 
 Cu-Stenin. 
 
 THE NAMING OF CUCHULLIN. 
 
 CONOR. 
 
 Setanta, if bird-nesting in the woods 
 
 And ball-feats on the play-green please thee not 
 
 More than discourse of warrior and of sage, 
 
 And sight of warrior-weapons in the forge, 
 
 I offer an indulgence. For we go, — 
 
 Myself, my step-sire Fergus, and my Bard, — 
 
 To visit Cullan, the illustrious smith 
 
 Of Cuailgne. Come thou also if thou wilt. 
 
 SETANTA. 
 
 Ask me not, good oh Conor, yet to leave 
 The play-green : for the ball-feats just begun 
 Are those which most delight my playmate-youths, 
 And they entreat me to defend the goal. 
 But let me follow : for, the chariot-tracks 
 Are easy to discern ; and much I long 
 To hear discourse of warrior and of sage, 
 And see the nest that hatches deaths of men, 
 The tongs a- flash, and Cullan's welding blow. 
 
 CONOR. 
 
 Too late the hour ; too difficult the way. 
 
 Set forward, drivers : give the steeds the goad. 
 
 z 
 
170 Notes. 
 
 CULLAN. 
 
 Great King of Emain, welcome. Welcome, thou, 
 Fergus, illustrious step-sire of the Kiug : 
 And, Seer and Poet, Cathbad, welcome too. 
 Behold the tables set, the feast prepared. 
 Sit. But, before I cast my chain-hound loose, 
 Give me assurance that ye all be in. 
 For, night descends ; and perilous the wild ; 
 And other watchman none of house or herds, 
 Here, in this solitude remote from men, 
 Own I, but one hound only. Onoe his chain 
 Is loosened, and he makes three bounds at large 
 Before my door-posts, after fall of night, 
 There lives not man nor company of men 
 Less than a cohort, shall, within my close 
 Set foot of trespass, short of life or limb. 
 
 CONOR. 
 
 Yea; all are in. Let loose, and sit secure. 
 Good are thy viands, Smith, and strong thine ale. 
 Hark, the hound growling. 
 
 CULLAN. 
 
 Wild dogs are abroad. 
 
 FERGUS. 
 
 Not ruddier the fire that laps a sword 
 Steel'd for a king, oh Oullan, than thy wine. 
 Hark, the hound baying. 
 
 CULLAN. 
 
 Wolves, belike, are near. 
 
 CATHEAD. 
 
 Not cheerfuller the ruddy forge's light 
 
Notes. 171 
 
 To wayfarer benighted, nor the glow 
 
 Of wine and viands to a hungry man, 
 
 Than look of welcome pass'd from host to guest. 
 
 Hark, the hound yelling ! 
 
 CULLAN. 
 
 Friends, arise and arm! 
 Some enemy intrudes ! Tush ! 'tis a boy. 
 
 SETANTA. 
 
 Setanta here, the son of Suailtam. 
 
 CONOR. 
 
 Setanta, whom I deemed on Emain green 
 Engaged at ball-play, on our track, indeed! 
 
 SETANTA. 
 
 Not difficult the track to find, oh King. 
 
 But difficult, indeed, to follow home. 
 
 Cnllan ; 'tis evil welcome for a guest 
 
 This unwarn'd onset of a savage beast, 
 
 Which, but that 'gainst the stone-posts of thy gate 
 
 I three times threw him, leaping at my throat, 
 
 And, at the third throw, on the stone- edge, slew, 
 
 Had brought on thee the shame indelible 
 
 Of bidden guest, at his host's threshold, torn. 
 
 CONOR. 
 
 Yea, he was bidden : it was I myself 
 Said, as I passed him with the youths at play, 
 This morning, Come thou also if thou wilt. 
 But little thought I, when he said the youths 
 Desired his presence still to hold the goal ; — 
 Yet asked to follow : for he said he longed 
 
172 Notes. 
 
 To hear discourse of warrior and of sage, 
 And see the nest that hatches deaths of men, 
 The tongs a-flash, and Cullan's welding blow ; — 
 That such a playful, young, untutor'd boy 
 Would come on this adventure of a man. 
 
 CULL AN. 
 
 I knew not he was bidden ; and I asked, 
 
 Ere I cast loose, if all the train were in. 
 
 But, since thy word has made the boy my guest, — 
 
 Boy, for his sake who bade thee to my board, 
 
 I give thee welcome : for thine own sake, no. 
 
 For thou hast slain my servant and my friend, 
 
 The hound I loved, that, fierce, intractable 
 
 To all men else, was ever mild to me. 
 
 He knew me ; and he knew my uttered words, 
 
 All my commandments, as a man might know : 
 
 More than a man, he knew my looks and tones 
 
 And turns of gesture, and discerned my mind, 
 
 Unspoken, if in grief or if in joy. 
 
 He was my pride, my strength, my company ; 
 
 For I am childless ; and that hand of thine 
 
 Has left an old man lonely in the world. 
 
 SETANTA. 
 
 Since, Cullan, by mischance, I 've slain thy hound, 
 
 So much thy grief compassion stirs in me, 
 
 Hear me pronounce a sentence on myself. 
 
 If of his seed there liveth but a whelp 
 
 In Uladh, I will rear him till he grow 
 
 To such ability as had his sire 
 
 For knowing, honoring, and serving thee. 
 
Notes. 173 
 
 Meantime, but give a javelin in my hand, 
 And a good buckler, and there never went 
 About thy bounds, from daylight-gone till dawn, 
 Hound watchfuller, or of a keener fang 
 Against intruder, than myself shall be. 
 
 CULLAN. 
 
 A sentence, a just sentence. 
 
 CONOR. 
 
 Not myself 
 Had made award more righteous. Be it so. 
 Wherefore what hinders that we give him now 
 His hero-name, no more Setanta called, 
 But now Cu-Chullain, chain-hound of the Smith ? 
 
 SETANTA. 
 
 Setanta I, the son of Suailtam, 
 Nor other name assume I, or desire. 
 
 CATHBAD. 
 
 Take, son of Suailtam, the offered name. 
 For at that name the mightiest of the men 
 Of Erin and of Alba shall turn pale : 
 And, of that name, the mouths of all the men 
 Of Erin and of Alba shall be full. 
 
 SETANTA. 
 
 Yea, then ; if that be so — Cuchullin here ! 
 
 This name, Cuchullin, illustrates some of the difficulties with which any one 
 rendering old Irish material into English equivalents has to deal. Many of the 
 readers of Ossian used to sound it Cutch-ullin, and such would be the form the 
 name would take to most persons ignorant of its composition. Even when we 
 come to know that it signifies Cu- " the Hound " -Chullain " of Cullan," we are 
 
174 Notes. 
 
 in danger of calling it Cu- tchullin. If, to avoid this risk, we write tbe name 
 Cu-hullin, we lose the radical C of the second name. Omit the h, and it looks 
 equally well, as Cu- Cullin ; but then, the grammatical dependence of Chullin in 
 the genitive is lost ; and the word no more expresses its meaning : being reduced 
 to Hound-Cullin, instead of Hound-of-Cullan. The only unembarrassing equi- 
 valent would be Greek, KvxvXA.au/. Yet this is but a case of slight difficulty as 
 compared with other names of persons and of things, where the letter-sounds in 
 the two languages vary. For example, the Tain — that famous romance to which 
 allusion is often made — to the English eye looks as though it ought to rhyme to 
 Spain, whereas, in Irish pronunciation, it would more nearly rhyme to Lawn ; or, 
 in Highland Gaelic, to Man. What is to be done in such cases? The Tain will 
 not know itself in Tawn ; and the modern eye would recoil from the suggestion 
 of its proper Irish sound through the medium of a rhyming-association with either 
 Lawn or Man. There seems nothing for it but such a compromise as will offer 
 the least apparent anomaly, and an acceptance of the pronunciation most in 
 accordance with modern speech, however inharmonious to native Irish ears. 
 
 11. " Dun-Dealga." (puge 5, line 22.) 
 
 If we admit a real existence for Cuchullin, we must accept, as a fact beyond 
 question, that the moat of Castletown, near the present town of Dundalk, was his 
 residence. It certainly is the old Dun-Dealga, or Brooch-Fort, which is con- 
 stantly alleged by all the ancient writings relating to Cuchullin, to have been his 
 residence. You see it, a prominent object on the west, in crossing the river at 
 Dundalk. 
 
 12. " Malcova, son of Deman." {page 6, line 5.) 
 
 The name of the father of this generous protector of the Bards, is preserved 
 in that of his old mansion Rath-Demain, now Rademon, the residence of the 
 family of Crawford. 
 
Notes. 175 
 
 13. " The sacred Poet-speech." (page 6, line 20.) 
 It is related of Conor Mao Nessa that on the occasion of certain Bards 
 debating a question of law in his presence, they used a phraseology which was 
 unintelligible to the by-standers, which led to his enacting that all subsequent 
 disputations affecting the common weal should be conducted in the vulgar tongue. 
 Judging from some specimens of the affected style in fashion with the chief 
 Poets, who seem to have delighted in disguising their words by inversions and 
 intercalated syllables designed to amplify the sound, as well as in an enigmatical 
 and mystical style of expression, we must laud the good sense of Conor in this 
 instance, whatever we may think of his claims to our respect in others related of him. 
 
 14. " There, where thou seest the cairn at top." (page 7, line 14.) 
 
 Few traces now remain of the sepulchral chamber of Slanga. Its appearance 
 
 in the early part of the last century is thus described by Harris : — 
 
 "On the summit of this mountain are two rude edifices (if they may be so termed), one 
 being a huge heap of stones piled up in a pyramidical figure, in which are formed several 
 cavities, wherein the devotees shelter themselves in bad weather while they hear mass ; and 
 in the centre of this heap is a cave formed by hard, flat stones, so disposed as to support each 
 other witlwut the help of cement. The other edifice is composed of many stones, so 
 disposed in rude walls and partitions, called chappels, and perhaps was the oratory and cell 
 erected by St. Domangard." — {Hist. Co. Down, p. 121.) 
 
 Domangard, or Donard (born towards the end of the fifth century), was 
 founder and first Bishop of Maghera, now a parish at the northern foot of the 
 mountain to which he has given his name. The tradition of the change of name 
 was current in the time of Giraldus Cambrensis. For various notices of Doman- 
 gard, his pedigree, and the traces still extant of his labors, see Reeves's Ecc. 
 Antiq. Down and Connor. 
 
 15. " The Power to blight." (page 8, line 2.) 
 The Aeir, or Satire of the Bards, was deemed an instrument of physical 
 mischief, capable of destroying the life and property, as well as the peace of 
 
176 Notes. 
 
 mind, of the persou against whom it was directed. Rather than incur its 
 terrors, the early Irish submitted to Bardic exactions, which would appear in- 
 credible, if we did not know that, even within the present generation, the same 
 belief in the power of the Bhat (vates ?) exists in the East. In a paper in the 
 Calcutta Review (August, 1844), a writer on female infanticide, ascribing the 
 practice in part to the costliness of bridal celebrations, and the consequent dis- 
 inclination of the Rajputs to bring up daughters, presents the following remarkable 
 picture of Bardism as it now exists in India, which may be usefully compared 
 with what is stated above in the note on the Synod of Dromceat : — 
 
 " By far the most general and characteristic source of expenditure is to be found in the 
 exorbitant demands of the Bhats and Charans on the celebration of marriages. From Sir 
 John Malcolm we learn that the Eajputs in general pay comparatively little attention to the 
 Brahmans — that a holy man of this tribe has a share of their respect and veneration ; but 
 that their chief priests are the Charans and Bhats, who to the direction of their superstitious 
 devotions, add the oifice of chronicler of their cherished fame and that of their ancestors. 
 
 The Bhats, as chroniclers or bards, share office with the Charans. They praise and 
 
 give fame in their songs to those who are liberal to them, while they visit those who neglect 
 or injure them with satires, in which they are reproached with spurious birth and inherent 
 meanness. Sometimes the Bhat, if very seriously offended, fixes the figure of the person he 
 desires to degrade on long poles, and appends to it a slipper as a mark of disgrace. In such 
 cases the song of the Bhats records the infamy of the object of his revenge. This image 
 usually travels the country till the party or his friends purchase with money the cessation of 
 the ridicule and curses thus entailed. It is not" deemed in these countries within the power 
 of the first ruler, much less any other, to stop a Bhat, or even punish him for such a pro- 
 ceeding. He is protected by that superstitious and religious awe which, when general 
 among a people, controls even despotism. Now, for ages it has been the established custom 
 for Bhats and Charans not only to attend to be regaled at all marriage festivities, but also to 
 be dismissed laden with pecuniary and other gifts corresponding to the rank and reputed 
 wealth of the entertainer. If their expectations or demands on these occasions remain un- 
 satisfied, they bitterly reproach the recusant Eajputs, and write satires against them, which 
 they circulate throughout all the cities and towns of the country. To avert so disastrous a 
 calamity, what sacrifices will not the proud and haughty Bajput be ready to make ? But scarcelv 
 any amount of sacrifice is sufficient to meet all the claims preferred. These bards, minstrels, 
 chroniclers and genealogists, ' pour forth,' says Colonel Tod, ' their epithalamiums in praise 
 of the virtue of liberality. Their hardars are the grand recorders of fame ; and the volume of 
 precedent is always recurred to in citing the liberality of former chiefs : while the dread of 
 their satire (literally, poison) shuts the eyes of the chiefs to consequences, and they are only 
 anxious to maintain the reputation of their ancestors, though fraught with future ruin. . . .' 
 
Notes. Ill 
 
 In like maimer, Captain Ludlow, Political Agent at Jandpore, in Marwar, reports, ' that on 
 occasions of an unexpected confluence of this class, their exactions have sometimes 
 
 amounted to three-fourths of the year's income.' Both the Vakeel and Colonel 
 
 Sutherland relate an extreme instance of the extraordinary demands of these insatiable 
 harpies, because of its date being recent and the belief in it universal: — ' Nahur Khan, the 
 Thakar of Ashup, at the time of the nuptial ceremony of his daughter, made a vow that he 
 would, during a whole year, deliver to the Charans whatever they might demand of him. He 
 accordingly satisfied the claims of all comers ; some obtained a horse, others articles of 
 clothing, cash, bracelets of gold, strings of pearls. At length all was gone, and the year was 
 not yet expired, when a Charau came, and, finding the Thakar's substance exhausted, de- 
 manded of him, his head, on which, in fulfilment of his vow, he severed it from his body with 
 his own sword." — {Calcutta Review, Aug, 1844, pp. 398-400.) 
 
 This last incident may remind the Irish reader of a similar tale preserved 
 by Keating : — 
 
 " It was in the time that the aforesaid Dermot Mac Cearbhaell was mjnarch of Ireland 
 that a Scottish poet, called Tabhan Draodi, came to this kingdom, who, hearing a great and 
 commendable report divulged generally abroad of the immense bounty and liberality of 
 Eochaid Einsula (which may be called Eugenius Monoculns) , the common ancestor of all the 
 O'Sullivans, the covetous poet directs bis course unto Mounster, towards that good man, and 
 coming to his palace, where he was, he losely and wickedly begging of him his onely one eye, 
 the worthy nobleman out of his wonted affection to liberality, did grant it him." — ("O'Kearny's 
 Version." Lib. K.I.A.) 
 
 Amongst the Western nations, the Irish have longest preserved the Bardic 
 institutions. These may be assumed to have been at one time general over Europe. 
 The "charm" is only a malign song under another form of the same word, carmen. 
 In that singular mixture of good sense, social and sanitary science, and super- 
 stition, the Laws of the Twelve Tables, we find, bracketed together, prohibitions 
 against the use of the nails in women's quarrels, against iutra-mural nuisance 
 and burial, and against injuring a neighbour's crops by a charm. The popular 
 belief obviously was, that a person accomplished in song — one of those bards 
 who, no doubt, were a constituent part of early Greek and Latin, as well as 
 Gaulish and Irish society — could, by his art, rhyme the fertility of one man's fields 
 into the fields of another. Athairne was the most formidable of the old Irish 
 bardic fraternity in powers of this kind. By his rhymes he blasted all the crops 
 
 2 A 
 
178 Notes. 
 
 of the people of Leinster for three successive harvests, till they submitted and 
 made him satisfaction. His spell has not been preserved : but, in Cormac's 
 Glossary, we have the identical words of the couplets by which Neyid (as related 
 in the text) raised the blotches on the face of his uncle Caier, and so incapacitated 
 him for his kingly office. The introduction to the Amhra or Lauds of Colum by 
 Dalian Forgaill, embalms another of these productions alleged to possess the 
 distinction of having been the first aeir ever composed in Ireland, being the satire 
 of Coirpre, son of Etain, against Breas, son of Elata. It is difficult, at this day, 
 to discover either point or rhythmical excellence in either ; and, indeed, the same 
 remark may be applied to the Amhra itself. I extract the aeir of Coirpre 
 from Mr. Crowe's text of the Amhra : — 
 
 Gen cholt ar Crdib cernine, 
 Cen gert ferblia for ann assa athirni ; 
 Cen adba fir fodruba disorchi, 
 Cen dll d&nxi rcsi : rob sen brisse. 
 
 It seems to be a mere vulgar imprecation of the pains of poverty ; but is 
 curious as showing that amongst the goods of life, at the time of its composition, 
 next to nuts, sweet milk, the shelter of a roof, and light within doors, the enter- 
 tainment of a paid story-teller was deemed an indispensable of existence. 
 
 The efforts for the eradication of the Order, made by the Irish themselves, 
 were vigorously renewed by the Anglo-Norman Parliaments : but notwithstanding 
 all the enactments against Bards and Rhymers, with which our Statute Book 
 abounds, society continued to be infested by vagabond Adulators and Satirists 
 down to the early part of the present century. The last of the race appears to 
 have been one O'Kelly, who published his Bardic Visitation of Connaught and 
 Leinster in 1812. His book has a list of upwards of three thousand subscribers. 
 Some of his encomiums are not wanting in neatness ; and he displays great versa- 
 tility in varying his laudatory formulas. His lampoons, when he failed to find 
 subscribers, are coarse but vigorous, and must have been eminently annoying. 
 That he should have escaped personal chastisement in the then state of Irish 
 
Notes. 179 
 
 society, is only to be accounted for by the lingering superstition which still 
 invested the Bard, however unworthy, with the security of a quasi sacred calling. 
 If anyone cares to prosecute this subject further, consult " Tribes of 
 Ireland" (O'Daly, Dublin, 1861), where a large amount of curious information (in 
 the midst, it must be said, of much matter that had better been omitted) has been 
 brought together in the introduction and notes by the learned Dr. John O'Donovan. 
 It may be instructive to add, that O'Donovan appears to have been untrammelled 
 in this particular essay by the control of such scholastic guardians as he had in 
 his other works. 
 
 16. " The dire, disqualifying stain." {page 9, line 2.) 
 It was part of the old regal polity that certain personal blemishes incapaci- 
 tated the sovereign, and obliged his resignation. See further, in reference to this 
 singular idea, the story of King Fergus " Stud-Feeder," son of Leid^, note 33 
 Dun Kermna was the old Head of Kinsale. 
 
 17. " When Saint Buan 
 
 " denounced by book and bell 
 
 " His curse against the royal seat." (page 10, line 24.) 
 
 The desertion of Tara as the central seat of government, consequent on the 
 dispute between King Diarmid and Bishop Ruadhan, is an event of consider- 
 able importance in early Irish history. The fullest account of the occasion 
 and particulars of the quarrel (regarded from the ecclesiastical point of view) is 
 found in the Annals of Clonmacnoise, thus rendered by MacGeoghegan in his 
 old English version (MS. in Lib. K.I.A.). After describing the ascension of 
 St. Brendan of Birr to the skies, " in his chariot or coache," he proceeds thus 
 under date 563 : — 
 
 " King Dermott, to make ruanifeste unto his subjects of the kingdom his magnificience, 
 appointed a sergeant (maor), named Backlawe (Backlamh), with a spear to travel through 
 
1 80 Notes. 
 
 the kingdom, with power to break such doors of the nobility as he should find narrow in such 
 manner as the spear could not enter into the house thwarthwise, or in the breadth of the 
 door. The sergeant travailed to and fro with his directions, putting in execution the King's 
 pleasure in that behalf, by breaking of either side such doors as he found useful for his 
 purpose, until at last he came to the house of one Hugh Gwary (Aedh Gaidhra) in Imaine 
 (Hy-Maiiiu), in Connaugbt, when, being desired by those of the house to enter, in the 
 absence of the said Hugh Gwary, the sergeant said he could not, because the door was 
 narrow, and (he) could not bring in his spear as he ought. No, said they of the house, we 
 will break the door of either side, and make it of such manner as (that) you may bring in 
 your spear as you desire, which they accordingly did. The sergeant having the door broken, 
 entered and feasted with them ; and some time after Hugh Gwary came to the town, and 
 seeing his door broken, be asked who broke it ; and being told it was Backlawe, the King's 
 sergeant, he entered the house in a rage, and without more ado he killed the sergeant pre- 
 sently, and took his flight himself to Rodanus, Abbot of Lohra, who was his mother's brother, 
 thinking by his sanctity and means to secure himself from the King's furie for killing the 
 sergeant. 
 
 " Rodanus sent his said nephew to the King of Wales, who was his well-wisher, and in 
 whom he reposed great trust. The King of Ireland, hearing of the killing of his sergeant by 
 Hugh Gawry, caused narrow seartch to be made for him, and understanding he was sent to 
 the King of Wales, wrote to him that he should send him back, or, refusing so to do, that he 
 with all his forces would go over unto him aud destroy his kingdom, and remain there until 
 he had gotten Hugh Gawry, which the King of Wales perceiving sent him (Hugh Gawry) 
 hack to Rodanus again. 
 
 " When King Dermott understood that he was sent over, he prepared to come to Lohra 
 with a few of his guards, and in his coache came to Lohra aforesaid, and sent one of his men 
 to know where Hugh Gwary was. The man look'd about him and cou'd see none but 
 Rodanus, that sate in his accustomed seat where he did use to say his prayers, under whose 
 feet or neare adjoining he (had) caused a hole to be made in the floor for Hugh Gwary to 
 rest in, whereoff nobody had knowledge off, but Rodanus himself and one more that carried 
 him his meat at the time of refection. The King, seeing the man brought him no tydeings, 
 he entered himself, and was confident Rodanus being enquired of the place where Hugh 
 Gwary was, would not lie, but tell truth as was his custom. The King accordingly entered 
 and saluted him with harsh salutations of bitter and pinching words such as were unfit to be 
 spoken to such an holy and virtuous man, saying that it did not belong to one of his coate to 
 keep in his house one that committed such a feat as to kill his servant 5' was employed in the 
 execution of his instructions, and prayed that there might be no abbot or monk to succeed 
 him in his place in Lohra. By God's grace, said Rodanus, there shall be abbots and monks in 
 my place for ever, and there shall be no kings dwelling in Tara from henceforward. When they 
 had thus bitterly spoken, the King asked where HughGwary was. I know not where he is if he 
 be not where you stand (said Rodanus)— for he nas indeed right under the King's feet. The King, 
 thinkinghe spoke in jest, departed; and being out of the house, thought with himself that the holy 
 man spoke truth, and that Hugh Gwary was under the place where he stood, and sent one of 
 
Notes. 181 
 
 his men in again with a pick-axe to dig the place and to bring him out by force. As soon as 
 the man came to the place he struck the ground with the pick-axe : his hands lost all their 
 strength on the sudden in such manner as the party could not heave the pick-axe from the 
 ground : then he cried mercy, and besought Bodanus of forgiveness and his benediction, 
 which Eodanus accordingly gave him and kept the man thenceforth with him in the habit of 
 a monk. The King, seeing him not return, entered himself and caused the hole to be 
 digged, where he found Hugh Gwary, whom he caused to be brought prisoner to Taragh. 
 
 " Rodanus seeing himself violently abused and bereft of his kinsman, sent for others of 
 the Church, and followed the King to Taragh, and then craved Hugh Gwary of the King, 
 which he obstinately refused. After supper [all retire to rest, and the King has a dream 
 prefiguring the result]. When morning came the King, nobles, and prelates arose, and after 
 the clergymen had done with their prayers they besought the King again to enlarge unto 
 them Hugh Gwary, which he did as obstinately refuse as before, and then Rodanus and a 
 bishop that was with him took their bells that they had with them, which they rung hardly, 
 and cursed the King and place, and prayed God that no King or Queen wou'd or cou'd ever 
 after dwell in Taragh ; and that it should be waste for ever without court or palace, as it fell 
 out accordingly. King Dermott himself or his successors Kings of Ireland cou'd never dwell 
 in Taragh since the time of that curse, but every one the Kings chose himself such a place 
 as in his own discretion he thought fitted and most convenient for him to dwell (in), as 
 Moyseaghlyn Mor (chose) Donasgiach; Brian Borowe, Kinsory (Kincora), and so forthe. 
 Rodanus being thus refused, he tendered a ransoming of 30 horses which the King was 
 content to accept and so granted him Hugh Gwary." 
 
 The bell, the instrument of this singular vindication of the ecclesiastical over 
 the civil power of the Irish, formed part of the collection of antiquities of the late 
 Sir Wm. Betham, and may now be seen in the British Museum. 
 
 18. " Of deal and his hunter-tribes." (page 12, line 17.) 
 The sources of the song are in Keating. 
 
 19. "Ben-Edar's cairns.'' (page 13, line 11.) 
 The Partholaniau colonists destroyed by plague were interred, 'tis said, at 
 Ben-Edar (Howth) and Tamlacht (Tallaght), near Dublin. Moynalty was the 
 plain of Dublin north of the Liffey : called the Old Plain, as having been at all 
 times free from forest ; and Moy n'ealta, or the plain of flocks, from the flocks 
 of wild-fowl that used there to sun themselves. 
 
182 Notes. 
 
 20. " Boroha used sit on craggy Bingian's top." (page 14, line 15.) 
 
 The Herding-seat of Borcha (see Note 6), if somewhat lower, is considerably 
 more picturesque than the summit of Slieve Donard. The rock, which in the 
 great cone of Slieve Donard is of normal granite, takes, in Slieve Bingian, the 
 laminated and stratified form of gneiss, with all those beddings and cross- 
 cleavages that in this kind of rock mock the highest efforts of the stone-mason. 
 The whole region abounds in singular granitic formations. At one point, where 
 a high col connects the western flank of Slieve Donard with the summits 
 rising over Castlewellan, the internal, or southern, escarpment assumes a columnar, 
 articulated character, almost as definite as that of the basalt of Fair Head, 
 well worth examination by some competent mineralogist. 
 
 21. " Came Gobhan with his mason train." (page 14, line 17.) 
 The Irish Gobhan Saoir seems in some aspects, but not in all, the analogue 
 of the Northern Wayland Smith. So far as the latter reflects the character of 
 the Vulcan of the Pantheon, the likeness does not hold. No story of a love 
 adventure resulting in lameness associates itself, to my knowledge, with Gobhan ; 
 nor is he specially a worker in metals. He appears as the great architect, 
 builder, and joiner, whether the work be a dry-stone cahir, a bridge, a round 
 -tower, or a mediaeval castle. It is only exceptionally, as in the Battle of Moy 
 Tura, that we find him working in metals. The name itself — " The Master 
 Workman" — seems to point to the origin of the myth. There are evidences of 
 the existence, here as elsewhere in early times, of a peculiar Building Craft or 
 Guild, whose Master, for the time being, would necessarily be a person of con- 
 siderable note. Each work of importance would thus have its particular Gobhan 
 Saoir, or Master Builder ; and here we probably have the origin of the wide- 
 spread celebrity amongst the Irish peasantry of such a personage associated with 
 the most distant works in time and locality. 
 
Notes. 183 
 
 22. " Tumultuous MoyW (page 16, line 16.) 
 The sea between Eathlin Island and Fair Head, on the north coast of 
 Antrim, is called, in old Irish tales, the Moyle : and in the story of the Children 
 of Lir, is designated the " red " and " bitter " — epithets which, in certain states 
 of the wind and tide, its turbulence well justifies. So violent is the commotion 
 on some occasions, that it has been thought here is the true site of the much- 
 dreaded Corryvreckan, where the Dalriad merchant, Brecan, with his fifty trading 
 curraghs, is said to have been engulphed. The tide-race runs with especial fury 
 along the talus of rocks that lie at the base of Fair Head, on the summit of 
 which, in old times, they used to light " the Scots' warning-fire." 
 
 23. " The salt, sheep -fattening marsh, (page 16, line 22.) 
 The reclamation of Lurgan-green has obliterated this feature of the plain of 
 Muirthevne^ where Cuchullin fought his last battle, and fell, if we may believe the 
 Bardic tradition, in his twenty- seventh year. 
 
 24. " The weird De Danaan kings." (page 17, line 1.) 
 New Grange, and the other great tumuli on the north bank of the Boyne, 
 between Slane and Drogheda, are objects now too well known to need description 
 here. Anyone curious to learn fully all that has been ascertained concerning 
 them, may consult Petrie's Ecclesiastical Architecture ; or Wilde's Boyne and 
 Blackwater. As regards the non-mythical persons said to be buried at Brugh, 
 see note 54. 
 
 25. " The great sea-cataraet." (page 17, line 9.) 
 
 Had I followed my original, I should have written here — 
 
 The deep-clear-watered, foamy-crested, terribly-resounding, 
 Lofty-leaping, prone-descending, ocean-calf-abounding, 
 
184 Notes. 
 
 Fishy-frnitful, salmou-toeming, many-coloured, sunny-beaming, 
 Heady-eddied, horrid-thund'ring, ocean-prodigy-engend'ring, 
 Billow-raging, battle-waging, merman-haunted, poet-vaunted, 
 Royal, patrimonial, old torrent of Eas-Eoe, — 
 
 or something to that effect. 
 
 I shall ask leave, on the subject of these characteristic word-cataracts, to 
 
 add a word in extenuation : — 
 
 " Perfect equivalents for the Irish in sense are excessively difficult to find, and, in sound, 
 are impossible. What seems so bald, jejune, and forced in the translation, really runs on in 
 a liquid, sonorous, and spontaneous effusion in the original. This is owing to a double 
 rhythmical effect of alliteration of consonants and correspondency of vowels, which cannot 
 co-exist in any form of English words carrying equivalent meanings. And in some instances, 
 though they are few, the epithets are made, even in English, to contribute occasional rein- 
 forcements of ideas as well as of sound. Take, for example, from the ' Battle of Moyrath,' 
 the descriptive allusion to the cataract at Ballyshannon : — 
 
 "' The clear-watered, snows'-foamed, ever-roaring, particoloured, bellowing, in-salmon- 
 abounding, beautiful old torrent.' — ' The lofty-great, clear -landed, contentious, precipitate, 
 loud-roaring, head-strong, rapid, salmon-ful, sea monster-ful, varying, in-large-fish-abouDding, 
 rapid-flooded, furious-streamed, whirling, in-seal-abounding, royal, and prosperous cataract.' 
 
 " The resources of the translator here compel kim to employ repetitions and tautologies 
 where his original revels in a seemingly inexhaustible variety of expression ; and any one 
 familiar with the scene will recognise the force and appositeness of the phrases recalling the 
 open, grassy headlands, the tawny volumes of the river, the seal-haunted sea-abyss at foot, 
 and the frequent flash of the salmon shooting upward through the prone-rolling masses." — 
 {Quarterly Review, April, lufiS.) 
 
 26. " Brigid's cell." (//«</«• 22, line 8.) 
 Some remains of St. Moninne's church of Killeavy still exist at the base of 
 Slieve Gullion. They have been illustrated in a paper characterised by much 
 learning and sensibility in the Kilkenny Archeeologia for July, 1868, by the 
 Rev. George Read, M.A. He observes: — 
 
 " As no other country, except Palestine, possesses such minute and authentic records of 
 men and days long gone by, so in no other country are there so many and so interesting 
 remains of primitive Christianity — interesting, as exhibiting to our ryes the very first efforts 
 of the humble and zealous Christians to establish their pure faith in this island, in which tin- 
 
Notes. 185 
 
 first houses built with stone and lime were dedicated to the honour of God and the religion of 
 our Blessed Saviour 
 
 " The interest which is felt to attach itself to these structures is, that they are the true 
 representatives of the original architecture of the Irish church, which the more pretentious 
 Anglo-Norman edifices are not — that church, first founded by St. Declan, St. Ibar, St. Ailbe, 
 and St. Kieran, and followed up by St. Patrick, St. Brigid, St. Columb, and St. Moninne. 
 
 " These churches, when once seen, impress themselves upon the memory by their simple 
 and peculiar architecture. They are of very small dimensions ; some of the earliest being 
 only 15 feet long ; the usual prescribed length for the largest being 60 feet. The doorway 
 was invariably in the west end ; the windows few, and very small. Generally the doorways 
 were composed of three or four large stones, extending through the whole thickness of the 
 wall, and covered at top by an enormous thorough block, the jambs inclining inwards, not 
 unlike the Egyptian architecture 
 
 " St. Moninne, otherwise called Darerca, died in the year 517 She spent her 
 
 long life in the service of God, teaching the Word, and founding churches and monasteries, 
 not alone in Ireland, but also in Scotland, in which kingdom she built seven churches, one 
 called Cilnacase, in Galloway ; another on the summit of the mountain of Dunbreton ; another 
 on the mountain of Dundevenal, in Laudonia ; the fourth at the Castle of Strivelin ; the fifth 
 at Dun-Edin, now Edinburgh ; the sixth on the mountain of Dunpelder ; and the seventh at 
 Lanfortin, near Dundee ; thus showing the same attachment to building upon mountains in 
 Scotland which led her to choose Sliabh Cuillinn for her convent in Ireland." 
 
 The doorway is still standing. It is of the character above described, and 
 
 very possibly of the period supposed. Faughart has preserved few of its original 
 
 traces, and is better known as the scene of the defeat of King Edward Bruce in 
 
 the fourteenth, than of the devout exercises of its founders in the sixth, century. 
 
 27. " Hermit Ere." (page 23, line 13.) 
 
 Must not be confounded with any of the Ercs known in ecclesiastical history. 
 
 Bishop Ere, of Slane, lived nearly two centuries before. The hermit of the story 
 
 belongs entirely to romance. His austerities are not without example, even in a 
 
 later age and among a more sedate community. Bede (Book v., c. 12) gives the 
 
 following account of the course of life pursued by a monk of Cuningham in 
 
 Northumbria : — 
 
 " As the place lay on the bank of the river, he was wont often to go into the same 
 to do penance in his body, standing sometimes up to the middle, and sometimes up to the 
 neck, in water ; and when he went out from thence ashore he never took off his cold and 
 
 2b 
 
186 Notes. 
 
 frozen garments til] they grew warm and dry on his body. And when, in the winter, the 
 half-broken pieces of ice were swimming about him, which he had himself broken, to make 
 room to stand or dip himself in the river, those who beheld it would say, ' It is wonderful, 
 brother Drithelm (for so he was called), that you are able to bear such extreme cold;' he 
 simply answered, for he was u man of much simplicity and indifferent wit, * I have seen 
 greater cold ;' and when they said, ' It is strange that you will endure such austerity ;' he 
 replied, * I have seen more austerity,' " &c. 
 
 28. " Dunangay." (page 24, line 18.) 
 There are authentic evidences of the Irish monarchs, after the sixth century, 
 having resided in the island-fortress of Loch Leyne, and at Dunsciath, both in 
 the neighbourhood of Mullingar ; but of Dunangay there remains no trace beyond 
 its introduction into the story of Congal. As its more obvious derivation would 
 signify " Goose-Fort," it was probably invented in allusion to the eggs of Ere. 
 The allegation that Tara was abaudoned deserves further inquiry. 
 
 29. " The King of Emain Mocha, here." (page 25, line 24.) 
 
 In the preceding notes some account has been given of the events which 
 transferred the seat of government of the petty kingdom of Ulster from Emania, 
 first to Rath-Keltar, in Down, and afterwards to Rathmore, in Antrim. Emania 
 itself, the original capital, is in Armagh County : about a mile and a-half west 
 of the city, approached by the by-road leading past the old windmill. It dates 
 back to the time of Cimbaoth, before whose epoch, says the most reliable 
 of our annalists, " omnia monumenta Scotorum incerta erant." As might 
 be expected, the traditions of its origin are various and discrepant. Indeed 
 the Dinnsenchus, or " Topo-Archa?ologia," in which we find the stories of the 
 origins of noted places in Ireland, is a compilation of inventions of the most 
 arbitrary kind, often founded on some verbal play on the name. One ex- 
 pounder of the derivation of Emain traces it to the neck-bodkin {Eo-muin) of 
 Macha, wife of Cimbaoth ; another to the twin-birth {Emain) of Macha, wife of 
 Crunn, in the long subsequent period of Conor Mac Nessa. This latter legend 
 
Notes. 187 
 
 possesses, however, an ethnological, if not a pathological value, glanced at in the 
 note on Rath-Keltar, which makes it worthy of more than passing notice. It is, 
 moreover, a remarkable example of that conciseness and simplicity, united to 
 pathetic power, which we sometimes find in the midst of those heaps of bombastic 
 verbiage accumulated in our old books ; and it is characteristic, as an example of 
 the method by question and answer, in which the pieces of the Dinnsenchus are 
 often conceived. 
 
 THE TWINS OF MACHA. 
 
 Whence Emain Macha? And the pangs intense 
 That long were wont to plague the Ultonians, whence ? 
 
 Not hard to tell. Once, ere that pest began, 
 Crunn of the Herds, the son of Agnoman, 
 Tending his flocks dwelt lonely in the wild. 
 Dead was his wife : and many a squalid child, 
 Ill-cared for, clamoured in the dwelling bare. 
 Now, on a day, when sitting sadly there, 
 Crunn was aware a woman stood beside, 
 Of gracious aspect, sweet and dignified. 
 She, as familiar there had been her life, 
 At once assumed the office of the wife : 
 Unasked, presided : dealt the children bread ; 
 And drew their loves forth, in the mother's stead. 
 Long while she tarried. Neither wholesome food, 
 Nor seemly raiment, nor aught else of good 
 Wherewith the housewife's hand makes glad a homo, 
 Was wanting with them ; till the time was come 
 When Ulaidh all were wont to make repair 
 With annual pomp to celebrate their fair. 
 Thither they flock : man, woman, youth and maid ; 
 And, with the others, Crunn his- limbs arrayed 
 
188 Notes. 
 
 In festive garb, to go. Fear seized her soul. 
 
 " Ah, go not, rash one ! Thou wilt ne'er control 
 
 " Some word ill-timed, may mar our life's content." 
 
 " Tush ! Fear me not," said Crunn ; and, jocund, went. 
 
 The fair is filled. The grooms of Conor lead 
 The royal car and coursers o'er the mead. 
 The woods and lawns with loud applauses ring ; 
 The flattering courtiers buzz about. " The thing 
 " Lives not, for swiftness, that can near them come." 
 " Swifter," said Crunn, " my own good wife at home." 
 Scarce said, — the wretch, by wrathful Conor caught, 
 Is captive. Tidings to the wife are brought. 
 " Woe's me," she cried, " must aid him now, and I 
 " So soon to bear my own maternity !" 
 " Woe thee, indeed ! " the savage grooms return. 
 " Make good his boasting, or prepare his urn." 
 " As mothers bore you, spare !" she cries aghast ; 
 " Or yield me respite till my pains are past.'' 
 No respite. " Good, then, if it must be so, 
 "My pains shall work you, men of Ulster, woe, 
 " Now and hereafter." Brought before the King — 
 " Thy name ?" " My name, — our name, — the name shall cling 
 " To this thy fair-green and thy palace-hall 
 " Till the just God give judgment upon all ;— 
 "Macha, my name; daughter of Sanrad, son 
 " Of Imbad. Now, release him, aud I run." 
 
 She ran ; the steeds contended. Long ere they 
 Attained the goal, already there, she lay, 
 A mother, dying. Twin the birth. So came 
 Of Emain Macha, " Macha's Twins"' the name. 
 
Notes. 
 
 189 
 
 For the benefit of those who may care to prosecute the inquiry suggested by 
 the story, I annex the whole text, for which I am indebted to that liberal imparter 
 of such rarities, Mr. Hennessy, together with a literal Latin version. Closely as 
 the Latin has been packed, it will be observed that, in conciseness, it falls as far 
 behind the rapid, vehement, old Irish, as did the steeds of Conor in competition 
 with Macha in the race. Compare Alex, ab Alex. Genial. Bier., lib. ii., c. 25 ; 
 Hudibras, Part iii., Canto i., line 707 et seq. (Zach. Grey's edf) ; and authorities 
 referred to in note. Also chapters on same subject in Mauler's " Chips," and in 
 a recent work of Sir John Lubbock. 
 
 Noinden Ulad cid dia ta. nin . Crunniuc 
 mac Agnomain diTJltaib briuga cetach ataoom- 
 naic. Bai in dithrub ocus irroilbib ocus meic 
 imdaleis . Bamarbiarnm aben . Tanbailathe 
 and ina thig a oinur conaccai in mnai chuce 
 ina thech . Ba cuchtach leis innas na mna . 
 Fecaid in ben fochetoir, o do fessid for ergnam 
 do denam, annul bid istaig nobeth riam. 
 thanio co aithchi donairbir in muintir cen 
 athchomarc . Foaid la Crunniuc isind aidchi. 
 Bai oca amser mar iarsin, ocus ni biii ni ba 
 terc doib leesi di each thorud etir biad ocus 
 etach ocus indbass . Ni ba cian iarsin ferthair 
 oenach la Ultu . Nothegtis Ulaid dond 
 oenuch,flur,mnai,macc,ingin . Farrumadana 
 Crunniuc la each dond oenuch. Etach maith 
 immi . Blath maith fair . Is taeair duit tra 
 ol a ben friss, ni fhorbara anfot do rad . Is 
 decmaing on ol seseom. Curthir an oenach . 
 Do berar carpat in rig forsin mblai deodlai . 
 Do bert buaid in carpat cona echaib . Asbert 
 in sluag ni fail ni as luathiu andait na eichseo. 
 Asbert Crunniuc is luathiu mo bensa,ol seseom. 
 Airgaibthersom lasin rig fochetoir . Adfladar 
 don mnai ani sin . Is terbaid em damsa, ol 
 si, dul dia fhuaslucudsom ocus me' alacht . 
 Cid terbaid, ol in techtaire, marfithirsmm 
 meni risiu. Tolluid si dond oenuch iarum, 
 etrosgabatidain . Tomforidse,olsirisin sluag, 
 or is mathair rue each uaib, anaid frim coro- 
 
 Parturiens-dolor Ultoniensium, cur est? 
 Haud difficile. Fuit Crunnico Alius Agno- 
 mani de TJltoniensibus colonus, affluentis 
 status. Habitabat,infantibussuismultiscomi- 
 tantibus, in desertis et vastis locis. Mortua 
 enim fuit uxor ejus. Quadam die, quum solus 
 intus esset, vidit mulierem aedes intrantem. 
 Forma mulieris gratiosa viro videbatur. Ilia 
 vixdum sedebat quin res domesticas agebat, 
 velut semper ibi domiciliata. Cibum vesper- 
 tinum familias ultro distribuit. Nocte cum 
 Crunnico concubuit. Bemansit ibi diu postea ; 
 nee ullius rei egestas sentiebatur familia, 
 nee victus, nee habitus, nee divitiarum, ea 
 adjuvante. Posthac celebrabantur Nundinae 
 TJltoniensibus. Concurrunt ad Nundinas 
 Ultonienses, viri, feminse, filii, filise. Tunc 
 se paravit Crunnico, inter alios, Nundinas ire. 
 Habitus viri elegans : rubicunda facies. Heu 
 tibi, dixit malier, [qui] non parceris verbum 
 quoddam imprudens edere. Licet, dixit ille. 
 Instituuntur Nundinae. Adductus est currus 
 regis in planitiem, die inclinante. Currus cum 
 equis palmam tulit. Dixerunt milites, ea res 
 non est qua? velocior sit equis illis. Dixit 
 Crunnico, velocior est mea conjux ipsa, 
 dixit ille . Illico a rege captus est. Factum 
 nunciatur mulieri. Vae mihi, dixit, eundum 
 est ad eum liberandum, proxime pariturae. 
 Vae quanquam sit, dixit nuncius, mortem 
 
190 
 
 Notes. 
 
 lamnar . Ro fbeinid uadib . Maith tra, ol si, 
 biaid olc bas mo de ocus biaid for ultaib re 
 mor . Ciatbainmsiu,olinri,Is sedmo ainmse, 
 ol si, ocus ainia mo gene bias ar in oenuchsa 
 co bratb. Macha ingen Sainrith mic Imbaitb 
 m'ainmse, ol si. Comluid iarumrisin carpat, 
 et in tan ro anic in carpat cend na blae 
 roscaicb aasaitsi ar a cind . Combert emun . | . 
 mac ocus ingen . Is de ata Emuin Machae 
 insiu . Iactaidsi dan lia basait . Nacb duine 
 rodacbualason foscerded i cess , coic laa 
 ocus cethri aidcbe . Fir ulad uili robatar and 
 dosniced uili do gres indellsin fri saegul non- 
 bair, o cacb fhiur ro ba and . Coic laa ocus 
 cetnri aidcbe, no coic aidcbi ocus cetbri laa . 
 Issed sin ro boi noinden Ulad Nert mna 
 siuil ba ed no bid la cech fer di Ultaib fri 
 saegul nonbair isind noeden . Treide for 
 na bid noenden di Ultaib . | . meic ocus 
 mnaa Ulad ocus Cuchulaind. Issed beret 
 rombai for ultaib 6 amsir Cruinncon mic Agno • 
 main mic Curir-Ulad mic Fbiatacb mic Urmi 
 conice amsir Fhorco mic Dallain micMainicb 
 mic Lugdacb &c . Cuirir-ulad is de do gairter 
 Ulaid . Is de sin tra ata noenden Ulad ocus 
 Emuin Madia. — (Book of Leinster, fol. 80, 
 u. 2.) 
 
 obibit nisi tu praeveneris. It ilia ad Nundinas 
 postea, et autevenerunt dolores (partus). 
 Porcite mibi, dixit militibus, quoniam mater 
 unumquemque "vestrum peperit, moram conce- 
 dite donee partura erim. Negatum est ab illis. 
 Bene igitur, dixit ilia; calamitatis erit [causa] 
 mors mea; et ea calamitas diu manebit Ultoni- 
 ensibus omnibus. Quid nomen tuum ? dixit 
 Bex. Hocce nomen meum, dixit ilia, et nomen 
 (meum et nomen) partus mei erit in Nundi- 
 nas basce usque ad judicium (novissimum). 
 Macba, fllia Senrati filii Imbati, nomen mibi, 
 dixitillamet. Contenditpostea(cursu) contra 
 currum. Et quando currus ad finem planitiei 
 accessit, jamdudum ibi perventa jacuit ilia 
 parturiens, moribuuda. Enixa est geminos, 
 scilicet filium filiamque. Et inde est Emun 
 Macha nomen loco impositum. Clamores 
 tunc edidit parturiens. Unicuique viro audi- 
 enti(skni!em)passionem injecerunt (clamores 
 ejus) per spatium quinque dierum et quatuor 
 noctium, (Quoad) omnes viros Ultonienses 
 (procreatos de iis) qui tunc ibi adfuissent illis 
 omnibus eadem conditio (corporis contingere 
 solebat) continuo per secula noYem, illis (vide- 
 licet) de genere uniuscujusque viri qui ibifuit ; 
 per quinque dies et quatuor noctes aut per 
 quinque noctes te quatuor dies. Illud vero 
 parturiens-dolorUltoniensium(est). (Qualis) 
 feminae parturientis, talis debilitas erat 
 cujusvis viri Ultoniensis per generationes 
 novem sub ista passione. Trias vero (erat) 
 in quos non (prevaluit) passio ista apud 
 Ultonienses, scilicet pueri, mulieres Ultoni- 
 ensium, et Cucbulain. Hoc vero spatium tem- 
 poris per quod (prevaluit), scilicet de tempore 
 Crunniconis filii Agnomani filii Cuirir-Ulad 
 filii Fiatacbi fllii Urmi usque ad tempus Forgi 
 filii Dallam filii Mainici filii Lugdacis, &c. De 
 Cuirir-Ulad vero nominatur Ultoniensium 
 (provincia). Inde vero Noinden (partus- 
 passio) Ultoniensium, et Email! Macha 
 (Gemini Machee). 
 
Notes. 191 
 
 30. " Branch-abounding underwood of genealogy.'' (page 26, line 24.) 
 Where a whole population claims descent from a common ancestor, it seems, 
 at first sight, more absurd than it does on a little reflection. At first, one asks 
 what has become of the descendants of those who accompanied the common 
 ancestor? — or, are we to conclude that he alone left progeny, while all his 
 captains, soldiers, and slaves were childless ? This is an erroneous view. A 
 genealogical table, as I have heard it well remarked, is like a net of many 
 meshes. You may select the line of ascent you prefer ; but it does not follow 
 that there are no more meshes than those through which you ascend. 
 
 31. " Sweeny Menn.'' (page 29, line 21.) 
 Sweeny Menn, Domnal's predecessor on the throne, was Monarch of Ireland 
 from a.d. 616 to 628, when he was slain, as in the text. This name, Sweeny, 
 as, indeed, all Irish names ending in e accented, will long be a source of vexation 
 to whoever may attempt the conversion of old Irish material into acceptable forms 
 of English composition. The original is Suibhni, which, however represented 
 in English, bears with it an almost intolerable appearance of vulgarity. 
 Possibly the time may come when old Irish material may have got such a 
 position in the realm of letters as will justify the laying down of a regular 
 method of orthography, which, by familiarity, may come to be less offensive to 
 the eye. But in the meantime, explorers of this field must be content to take 
 up with many strange-looking and inelegant forms. 
 
 32. " Alban Eochaid Buie." (page 30, line 3.) 
 
 Son of Aidan, son of Gabhran, son of Domangart, son of Fergus, son of 
 
 Ere of the second or recognised Dalriadic kingdom in the west of Scotland, is 
 
 one of the historical personages of the story. He died, a.d. 628, in the same 
 
 year with his Irish cotemporary, Sweeny Menn. In his agnomen, Buidhe, " the 
 
192 Notes. 
 
 yellow," we have another instance of the hideous forms which one must adopt in 
 EDglishiug such combinations of sounds. Bwee is the nearest equivalent ; but is 
 so repulsive to the English eye, that in the choice of evils I have accepted the 
 compromise in the text. It is not at all impossible that the modern pronunciation 
 may be no real representation of the old form, and that Boyd may be the truer 
 equivalent. 
 
 33. " Troy Rury." (page 30, line 14.) 
 
 That this sea-beach and the adjacent Loch Rury take their name from Rury, 
 the common ancestor of the Rudrician families, is agreed : but whether it was 
 Dundrum Bay, or Strangford, or Belfast, Loch, is subject of controversy. I con- 
 clude it to have been the last. The seat of the noble family of Blackwood, at 
 the southern entrance to Belfast Loch, preserves the name of Leide, most probably 
 Leide 1 the Supple, father of that Fergus of Moylinny, on the opposite side of the 
 Loch, whose destruction by the sea-monster is said to have occurred near the 
 " fertais" of Loch Rury ; and this appears, pretty plainly, to be the fersad of 
 Belfast (see Note 37). I fancy that if Carrick-fergus were derived from the 
 story of this Fergus, it would have at least as plausible a foundation as in Boece's 
 reference of it to his Fergus the first. The legend of Fergus Leid^son is intro- 
 duced in the first gloss of the Brehon Law, much as that of the Men of Arvon is, 
 in the Welsh code of Howel. Being introductory to what may be called the case 
 of Mogh Nuadson in Replevin against Asal, which is cited in the Glossary of 
 Cormac (10th century), it must be assigned a very high antiquity, and certainly 
 constitutes one of the most characteristic of our old stories. 
 
 THE LEGEND OF FERGUS LEIDESON. 
 
 One day, King Fergus, Leide Luthmar's son, 
 Drove by Loch Rury ; and, his journey done, 
 Slept in his chariot, wearied. While he slept, 
 A troop of fairies o'er his cushions crept. 
 
Notes 193 
 
 And, first, his sharp, dread sword they filched away ; 
 
 Then bore himself, feet- forward, to the bay. 
 
 He, with the chill touch, woke ; and, at a snatch, 
 
 It fortuned him, in either hand to catch 
 
 A full-grown sprite ; while, 'twixt his breast and arm, 
 
 He pinned a youngling. They, in dire alarm, 
 
 Writhed hard and squealed. He held the tighter. Then 
 
 " Quarter !" and " Eansom !" cried the little men. 
 
 " No quarter ;" he : " Nor go ye hence alive, 
 
 " Unless ye gift me with the art to dive, 
 
 " Long as I will : to walk at large, and breathe 
 
 " The seas, the lochs, the river-floods beneath." 
 
 " We will." He loosed them. Herbs of virtue they 
 
 Placed in his ear-holes. Or, as others say, 
 
 A hood of fairy texture o'er his head, 
 
 Much like a cleric's cochal, drew ; and said, 
 
 " Wear this, and walk the deeps. But well beware 
 
 " Thou enter nowise in Loch Rury there." 
 
 Clad in his cowl, through many deeps he went, 
 
 And saw their wonders ; but was not content 
 
 Unless Loch Rury also to his eyes 
 
 Revealed its inner nnder-myteries. 
 
 Thither he came ; and plunged therein ; and there 
 
 The Muirdris met him. Have you seen a pair 
 
 Of blacksmith's bellows open out and close 
 
 Alternate 'neath the hand of him that blows ? 
 
 So swelled it, and so shrunk. The hideous sight 
 
 Clung all his visage sidewise with affright. 
 
 He fled. He gained the bank. " How seems my cheer, 
 
 " Oh Mwena ? " " 111 1" replied the Charioteer. 
 
 " But rest thee. Sleep thy wildness will compose." 
 
 2 c 
 
194 Notes. 
 
 He slept. Swift Mwena to Ernania goes. 
 
 " Whom, now, for King ; since Fergus' face awry 
 
 " By law demeans him of the sovereignty ?" 
 
 " Hush !" — and his sages, and physicians wise 
 
 In earnest council sit ; and thus advise. 
 
 " He knows not of his plight. To keep him so, 
 
 " As he suspect not that, lie ought not know, — 
 
 "For, so the mind be straight, and just awards 
 
 "Wait on the judgment, right-read Law regards 
 
 " No mere distortion of the outward frame 
 
 " As blemish barring from the Kingly name : — 
 
 " And, knew he all the baleful fact you tell, 
 
 " An inward wrench might warp the mind as well : — 
 
 " Behoves it, therefore, all of idle tongue, 
 
 " Jesters, and women, and the witless young, 
 
 " Be from his presence sent. And when at morn 
 
 " He takes his bath, behoves his bondmaid, Dorn, 
 
 " Muddy the water ; lest, perchance, he trace 
 
 " Lost kingship's token on his imaged face." 
 
 Three years they kept him so : till, on a day, 
 
 Dorn with his face-bath-ewer had made delay ; 
 
 And fretted Fergus, petulant and rash, 
 
 A blow bestowed her of his horse-whip lash. 
 
 Forth burst the woman's anger. " Thou a King ! 
 
 " Thou sit in Council ! Thou adjudge a thing 
 
 " In Court of Law 1 Thou, who no kingship can, 
 
 " Since all may see, thou art a blemished man ; 
 
 " Thou wry-mouth I" Fergus thereon slew the maid ; 
 
 And, to Loch Rury's brink in haste conveyed, 
 
 Went in at Fertais. For a day and night 
 
 Beneath the waves he rested out of sight : 
 
Notes. 195 
 
 But all the Ultonians on the bank who stood, 
 Saw the loch boil and redden with the blood. 
 When next at sunrise skies grew also red, 
 
 He rose — and in his hand the Muirdris' head 
 
 Gone was the blemish. On his goodly face 
 Each trait symmetric had resumed its place : 
 And they who saw him marked in all his mien, 
 A King's composure ample and serene. 
 He smiled ; he cast his trophy to the bank, 
 Said, " I, survivor, Ulstermen 1 " and sank. 
 
 84. " Oarr-Congail." (page 81, line 2.) 
 The "Short-(Spear)-of-Congal" is one of the conventional class of "weapon- 
 names," of which Excalibur may be taken as the chief example. Arthur's sword 
 may, not improbably, be some British compound beginning in ys. 
 
 85. " What cause had Piotish Gwendolen,." (page 86, line 5.) 
 Among other Bardic affectations may be classed the artifice of enhancing 
 the magnanimity of the warrior by minimizing the ground of quarrel. Thus the 
 Irish author of the Wars of the Gael refers the cause of the Battle of Clontarf — 
 really a dynastic and national event — to an impertinence committed by one of the 
 players of a game of ehess. Amongst the " Triads of the Isle of Britain " we 
 have their three " Ofergads," or frivolous battles of the text ; though, indeed, 
 the lark's nest is there made the causa causans of Arderidd ; while Goddeu 
 springs from the combined wrongs of a roebuck, a hound-bitch, and a corncrake. 
 Algernon Herbert has added, on some authority now unknown to me, the slap 
 given to Queen Gwenevere as the motive to Camlan. But before we condemn 
 our insular Bards, we must remember that Virgil grounds his great war between 
 the Trojans and Latins, on the wounding by Ascanius of a stag belonging to 
 Tyrrheus, King Latinus's herdsman. — (Mn.. 7, 4.85.) 
 
196 Notes. 
 
 Gwendoleu, the defeated combatant at Arderidd, seems to have left his 
 name associated with an ancient earthen construction still called Caer-Wenelow, 
 near Gretna — a strong argument to shew that the adjoining lands of Arthuret 
 have been successfully identified by Mr. Skene as the scene of the victory of 
 Rydderich Hael and his Christian hosts over the Paganism of Galloway and the 
 Northumbrian border. Indeed, in his latest work (" The Four Books"), Mr. 
 Skene has fixed in South and Central Scotland the scenes of all the battles of the 
 Arthurian story — 
 
 the fight, which, all day long, 
 Rang by the white mouth of the violent Glem, 
 
 the four wild battles by the shore 
 
 Of Douglas ; that on Bassa ; then the war 
 That thundered in and out the gloomy skirts 
 Of Celidon the forest ; and again 
 By Castle Gurnion, where the glorious King 
 Had on his cuirass worn our Lady's Head ; 
 
 And at Carleon ; 
 
 And up in Argoed Cathregonian too ; 
 And down the waste sand-shores of Treth Treroit, 
 Where many a heathen fell ; and on the mount 
 Of Badon :— 
 
 and this has been accomplished so successfully, that it becomes a question 
 whether names and events alike be not cyclical, and the local reflexions only of 
 lost originals. For, it will be remembered, that these scenes have all been 
 settled, with more or loss clearness, in different districts of England, and Wales, 
 as well ; save, indeed, Arderydd, which alone stands on ground admittedly 
 historical ; and may be considered as now identified with Arthuret. 
 
 A curious piece of information connected with Rydderich's expedition which 
 terminated in this victory, may not be out of place here. He appears to have in- 
 vaded Gwendolen's territory by sea ; and hia point of landing, as recorded in the 
 
Notes. 197 
 
 oldest extant manuscript of Wales — the Black Book of Caermarthen, — affords inci- 
 dentally what seems to be the key to the much-debated question of the birth-place 
 of Saint Patrick. Fiech, who may be regarded as almost a cotemporary, has it 
 that Patrick was born at Nemthur, on which his scholiast writes this gloss — " a 
 city in (among) the North Britons, that is Ailcluaide ;" and nothing can be more 
 certain than that Ailcluaide is Dunbarton, the capital of Gwendolen's territory 
 at the time of Rydderich's invasion. Now, in the Dialogue of Taliesin and 
 Merlin, in both editions of the Myvyrian Archaeology, the place of landing is 
 stated to be Nentur. The N, in both, belongs to the article, as in N'ewry; so 
 that the choice lies between Emtur and Entur: but Entur is a good Celtic 
 local name (" unica turns"), just as Endrum (" unica collis") was the old name 
 of Mahee Island ; and Entreb (" unica domus ") was the old name of Antrim ; 
 whereas Emtur is an " irreconcileable.'' The probability, therefore, is that 
 " Emtur,'' which, in the Tripartite Life, is always spoken of as a place close to, 
 or forming part of, Dunbarton (as, where Patrick is put to nurse there, and 
 his nurse is summoned to sweep up the hearth of the king's house in Alcluaid), 
 is simply Entur disguised by the accidental use of m instead of n. Note, 
 in connection, the occurrence of the lands of Ederibernan in the list of the 
 possessions of Kilpatrick near Dunbarton ; and note also the occurrence of the 
 name oiBannauc, so easily convertible into Bannave, in the same district. It is 
 but justice to add that the identity of the Nentur of the Dialogue with tho 
 Nemthor of Fiech had been already perceived by the acute intelligence of Algernon 
 Herbert, who notes tho passage thus, "Nentwr; Alclwyd, Dunbreatan, or 
 Nemthor."— (Cyclops Christ. 102.) 
 
 86. "Eoohaid, King of Britain." (page 87, line 3.) 
 
 This personage, his queen, his returned heir (who, in the original, is 
 discovered by the conventional mole on the arm, as well as by his heroic answer 
 to Congal's test- question), must all be referred to the region of fiction. 
 
198 Notes. 
 
 37. " Betdfersad of the ships'' [page 41, line 9.) 
 My native town has borne its name in the longer or shorter form, Baelfarsad, 
 i. e., Ford-Mouth = Belferside = Belfarst = Belfast, for at least twelve hundred 
 years. — (Ann. Ulst. 667). Fiachna, son of Aed Roin, son of Bee Boirche^ son of 
 Blathmac (from whom Newtown- Blaywic), son of the Malcova who entertained 
 the Bards, as in the text, built a bridge at Fersat, apparently this ford or 
 " trajectus,'' as early as the 8th century. If here, the original structure had 
 disappeared in the 14th century, when the signal for the great Irish revolt of 
 Ulster and Connaught was given by the assassination of William de Burgh, 
 while crossing the Belfast ford, on his way from Newtownards to Carrickfergus, 
 a.d. 1333. 
 
 88. Before Dun-Money gate." (page 41, line 22.) 
 The exact site of the seat of government of the Scottish kingdom of 
 Dalriada remains unascertained. It has been conjectured to be Dunadd, on the 
 Crinan canal ; but this rests only on conjecture. The name Monaid belonged both 
 to Eig-Moneth, or St. Andrews, the royal seat of the Picts, and to Edinburgh : 
 but the Dun-Monaid of the Dalriads was probably in the "Western Highlands. 
 The place seems to have been known in early Scottish tradition by some such 
 name as Emain, and, possibly, allusions to the capital of the little kingdom of 
 Ulster have got mixed up with references to the capital of the little kingdom 
 of Dalriada. Boece's name for the seat of so many of his shadowy potentates — 
 Berigonium — is taken from some seemingly miscopied MS. of Ptolemy ; and may 
 be said to involve three several solecisms : first, in the name itself, all the known 
 MSS. making it Rerigonium; secondly, in subject, the thing designated by 
 Ptolemy being an arm of the sea ; and, thirdly, in position, the longitude and 
 latitude, as well as the relation to other known points of locality, placing it, 
 certainly, to the south of the Clyde. Nevertheless, there is no pleasanter portion 
 of the romantic half of Boece's history as versified and expanded into the heroic 
 epic which Stewart -has made of it, than that which describes how the first Fergus 
 
Notes. 199 
 
 brought in law and civility, and how he, after the establishment of his courts of 
 justice, — 
 
 Syne biggit hes ane citie of greit fame, 
 
 Quhilk Berigone than callit we9 to name ; 
 
 In to Lochquhaber law down by the se, 
 
 With worthie wallis, and mony touris he. 
 
 It stude rycht stark quhair it had strenth aneuche, 
 
 Betuix ane watter and ane hingand heuche. 
 
 The language and spelling of Stewart (a scholar of St. Andrews, who wrote 
 a.d. 1535) are so antiquated that a longer extract might weary the modern 
 reader ; but Boece's recognition of his own and his nation's obligations to the 
 great Alexandrian geographer is so racy, that I cannot resist the temptation to 
 modernize and extract it from Stewart's version : — 
 
 Soon after thia, as I have said myself, 
 
 A King of Egypt surnamed Philadelph, 
 
 His orators did this King Ptolemy 
 
 To Scotland send, that time, to spy and see 
 
 The length, the breadth, and fashion of the land, 
 
 Figure and form, the sea, and eke the strand 
 
 Endlong the coast ; the mountains and the heughs ; 
 
 The floods, the fells, the forests and the cleughs ; 
 
 The wood, the water, round on every hand, 
 
 Both lake and loch, that were in all that land. 
 
 And to consider the diversity 
 
 Of day and night by their astronomy. 
 
 The elevation of the pole, also, 
 
 Of Urse Mayor and many other mo', 
 
 With astrolabe and other instrument, 
 
 With compass, chalk, and also with quadrant. 
 
 This Philadelph he sent both east and west 
 
 O'er all the world, where'er it pleased him best, 
 
 Of every land that he might know and ken 
 
 The shape, the form, the fashion of the men ; 
 
 The length, the breadth, the situation, 
 
 The number also of each place and town ; 
 
 And every land by him was thiswise sought, 
 
 And all these labours to one end were brought ; 
 
200 Notes. 
 
 Then in one volume all were put together : 
 Who likes them to inquire, they may consider 
 The book itself which has its name for aye, 
 Of Ptolemy the Great Cosmography. 
 
 [The Surveyors arrive. King Eentha receives them " With game 
 and glee, honest and honourable."] 
 
 After such sporting for a well-long -space ; 
 He, at their pleasure, sent to every place 
 Guiders right good, that could them well convoy 
 Free from all hurt, that nought should them annoy — 
 With quadrant, compass, and with astrolabe, &c. 
 
 Whereby they might consider well and see 
 
 Of day and night the great diversity ; 
 
 The length and breadth of every region ; 
 
 The distance, too, of every place and town. 
 
 Also therewith they laid them out to ken 
 
 The multitude and manners of the men : 
 
 Their law, their learning, all their arts indeed, 
 
 And quantity and fashion of their weed. 
 
 When all these things were clearly by them kenn'd, 
 
 They took their leave when they thought time to wend ; 
 
 Before the King low kneeling on their knee, 
 
 Thanking him there for his humanity. 
 
 And he again rewarded them also ; 
 
 So took they leave, and thence did homeward go. 
 
 — {Metrical version of the History of Hector Boece, by William Stewart ; in Chronicles and 
 Memorials of Great Britain and Ireland, vol. i., p. 88.) 
 
 Certainly, if Boece has fallen into discredit and oblivion, no one can say 
 it has been quia caret vate sacro. None of our metrical chronicles can compare 
 with this version of Boece for spirit, picturesqueness, or metrical movement. 
 Scotland owes a real obligation to Lord Romilly for making Stewart's work 
 public property. Reverting, however, to Ptolemy, it is worthy of remark that 
 while the Egyptian geography of Scotland is nearly as full as that of South 
 Britain, such mediaeval Scottish maps as have been preserved indicate a total 
 ignorance of everything in the country of the " wilde Scottz," that is, all to north 
 and west of the Ochyll hills. Beyond these bounds, Harding (cir. 1450) places 
 
Notes. 201 
 
 the " palais of Plato, King of Hell, neighbore to the Scottz," surrounded by 
 
 the four infernal rivers. 
 
 Stix, Flegiton, Cothiton, arid Acheron, 
 Tho ben foure flodes withouten any Rest ; 
 Ever flowing and ebbinge this se upon, 
 With wyndes and wawes of the borial nest, 
 That Raise-thise floodea by Est and West, 
 Blowing misrule through Scotland al and sum ; 
 As Scripture saith, A boria omne malfim. 
 — (Natl. MSS. of Scotland, Part ii., No. Ixx.) 
 
 39. " Caer Leon." (page 45, line 1.) 
 
 We are here entirely in the region of romance ; and Carlisle, Chester, or 
 Caerleon on Usk equally at the service of the reader's fancy. 
 
 40. " Maen Amber." (page 45, line 5.) 
 The clock amhra of the original — rendered " noble stone " by O'Donovan — 
 is evidently the Maen Amber of Welsh and Cornish archasology ; and has some 
 association, still unexplained, with the Petrai Ambrosial of the Tyrian medal 
 figured by Stukely. All were rocking-stones. Possibly the clocha brelha, or stones 
 of judgment, of the Scottish isles may supply the clue to the meaning of "ambrosial" 
 in some similar sense. It is thus it would appear to be used to distinguish Merlin 
 Emrys (" Ambrosius") from Merlin Wyll. The rocking-stones, and also those 
 travelling-stones which we still find in remote places in Ireland — that is, stones 
 which, if removed from their places of sanctioned deposit, are found to have 
 returned again, next morning — are of classical, as well as Irish and British note. 
 One parent tradition has probably descended into Greece in the form of the 
 Gygonian stone, which might be moved by a branch of asphodel, and of the 
 " flitting rock " afterwards used as the anchor of the Argo, — and in the west of 
 Europe in the form of such legends and objects as still surround us, and continue 
 to give to the Celtic and Cymric peasant his longer-lived superstitions. 
 
 2d 
 
■202 Notes. 
 
 41. "Invading Asdepid." (pmjt 51, fine 23.) 
 " Britannia after the Romans,'' notwithstanding all the learning and inge- 
 nuity of Algernon Herbert, remains a scarcely-touched field of English historical 
 inquiry. Whoever shall have the fortune to cast a light on this epoch, will have 
 to work with the materials supplied by the museums rather than the libraries. 
 Inscriptions, coins, objects of art, and the remains of buildings must be his chief 
 witnesses ; and there can be no doubt that such evidences may be made to tell a 
 story as connected as the Commentaries of Cassar. The expedition of Asclepio- 
 dotus against the usurping Allectus, alluded to in the test, is one of the few 
 incidents of the time which has been recorded in writing. The indefatigable and 
 all-observing Gibbon has deemed the event worthy of being preserved among the 
 grand actions of the world, which alone he has noticed. Britain was at that time 
 a country of considerable wealth and civilisation. It exported corn to Italy, 
 The coins of Carausius are very numerous, and are struck in a superior style of 
 art. 
 
 42. " Twi.vt Ullar' s and Ottawa's founts. Around the Mound of Sighs." 
 (page 52, fine 23.) 
 
 The Larne river and the Six-mile-water river, rising within a little distance 
 of one another, and flowing in opposite directions — the one into the sea at 
 Larne, and the other into Lough Neagh below Antrim town, — are unquestion- 
 ably the Ullar and Ottawa of the Annalists : but which is which has been a 
 question difficult to determine. From the fact that Larno appears in Norse 
 geography as Ulfrids-fiord and Ullarfrith, and in later English as Olderfleet, 
 one would naturally conclude the Larne river to be the Ullar. But various 
 considerations have led Dr. Reeves to make it the OUarva. The principal of 
 these arises on the topography of a curious romance preserved in the Lebor no, 
 h'uidhre (or '' Book of Brindle," as I would prefer to call it), and which has been 
 published with an English translation by Mr. Crowe in the Kilkenny Archmologia, 
 The story is that of Liban, a mermaid taken on the strand at InverOllarva, which, 
 
Notes. 203 
 
 from the context, Dr. Reeves has regarded as necessarily meaning the strand 
 of the sea. I do not concur : on the contrary, it seems to be a strand washed 
 by the waters of Loch Neagh, out of which the " sea-grazer " recites her song : 
 and the only names of places now identifiable in connection with it, point to the 
 neighbourhood of Antrim town. A more curious tradition it would be hard to 
 fiud. The circumstance of the lake making its eruption over the land, owing 
 to the failure of the keeper of the well to shut the well-cover, is to be found in 
 Wales and Brittany : and possibly the primitive sources of the story will yet be 
 discovered in the East. Liban was daughter of Eochaid, son of Mairid, in whose 
 time a well was supernaturally formed in Leth-Muini, where Loch Neagh now is. 
 " Eocho afterwards makes a house about the well, and a door to it, and one 
 ■woman at the watching of it. Now, on a certain occasion that the woman did 
 not close the well, Lind-Muni sprung up over Leth-Muni, and Eocho and his 
 
 family were drowned in it, save Liban, and Conang, and Cuman the Idiot 
 
 Airiu, wife of Curnan, was drowned in it. Curnan therefore died of grief for 
 her : hence is named Oarn-Cornan, on account of the death of Curnan there.'': — 
 
 " Now, Liban was a full year in her grlanan beneath the lake, and her lap-dog in her 
 presence in it, and God protectiug her against the waters of Loch Echach, until she said on 
 a certain day in it : ' O Lord,' she says, ' would that I were in the shape of the salmons, that 
 I might be along the sea at co-swimming with thein ! ' She was turned after that into the 
 shape of salmons, and her lap-dog was turned into the shape of an otter, so that it used to 
 be after her under the waters, and under the seas, every path she used to go on every side : 
 so that she was from the time of Eocho Maic Maireda to the time of Comgall of Bendchor in 
 that way. 
 
 " Comgall sent from him Beoan Mac Indli, from Teach Dabeoc, to Eome, for conver- 
 sation with Gregory on the head of order and rule." 
 
 While Beoan is navigating the open sea on this voyage, he encounters Liban 
 and her attendant. She tells him her story, and appoints a day to meet him on 
 his return at Inver Ollarva ; and offers, if he will meet her, to let his house have 
 the honour of her burial. He returns, and — 
 
 " The nets were prepared, and she was taken in the net of Fergus from Miliuc. She was 
 brought to land, and her story and form was a wonder. Several came to see her, and she in 
 the boat, and water about her in it. The Chief of the TJa Conaing was in it [there] like every 
 
204 Notes. 
 
 one, and a purple cloak about him. She was accordingly constantly looking at him. The 
 youth asked hoi- : ' If thy attention goes to the cloak,' he says, ' thou shalt have it.' ' No,' 
 she says, ' not for this I am looking at it aU, hut [because of] o, cloak of purple that was 
 about Eochaid the day he was drowned. Grace be on thee too,' she says, * and on the man 
 of thy place (successor), as a price of that ; and may it not be necessary to ask who is the 
 man of thy place for ever in every assembly in which he may be.' 
 
 " There was then a contention about her. Comgall said she was his, because it was on 
 his territory she was caught. Fergus too said she was his, because it was in his net she 
 happened. Beoan again said that she was his, because she pledged herself to him. Now, 
 all those saints fasted, that God might give a judgment between them about their contention. 
 
 " The angel said to a certain person there : ' Two wild oxen will come to-morrow from 
 Cam Airend,' he says, 'and put ye the chariot on them, and the direction they shall bring 
 her, allow ye to them.' The oxen came on the morrow, as the angel foretold it, and they 
 brought her to Tech Dabeoc." 
 
 It is on the occasion of her capture she recites her song. She speaks first 
 of her " Sun-Chamber" under the lake, " beneath the breasts of barques ; wave 
 my roof; strand my side- wall"; then describes how, after her transformation, 
 she was carried into the cold ocean by the " sea-belch " of the lake ; how, " alone 
 in the great sea-swell, she swam ocean of rough glens ; a sea-pig plunging 
 through the stormy waters." Then, after enquiring who now is King over the 
 district of Loch Lene, whence Eochaid had set out on his journey into Leth-Muni, 
 she reverts twice to her then-present condition " beneath Loch-Echach (Loch 
 Neagh) abode of birds." (Kilkenny Archasologia for January, 1870, p. 97.) 
 In accordance with this construction, it will be observed that Carn-Airend, from 
 which the oxen come, is the now Cairneamy, an emineuce on the Loch Neagh 
 side of the parish of Connor ; and that Fergus, in whose net Liban is taken, was 
 of Miliuc, seemingly the Miloc in Clondermot (Reeves, D. & C. 8 n. c), "juxta 
 Antrim," which follows Killead in the King's Books — a chapelary belonging to 
 the See of Down, whence perhaps the association with Comgal of Bangor. 
 
 Add to this, the statement that the Ollarva is in Line (Four Masters, 285), 
 i.e., in Moylinny, as contradistinguished from Moy-Latharna, always a separate 
 territory, and enough will be said to justify the departure which, in this instance, 
 I venture on, from the guidance of our great topographical director. 
 
 " The Mound of Sighs " at the place where these rivers take their origin, 
 
Notes. 205 
 
 was the scene of the death of Teuthal, surnamed the Acceptable, who was slain 
 here a.d. 160. The passage from the Four Masters (under date 106) is worth 
 transcribing, as fixing the site of this, and of another locality in the text : — 
 
 "After Tuathal Teachtmhar had been thirty years in the government of Ireland he fell 
 by Mai Mao Eochraide, King of Ulster, in Moylinny, at Moin-in-chatha [bog of tha battle] 
 in Dal Aradia, at the place whence spring the Ollar and Ollarba, the two rivers. Ceann- 
 gubha [hill of grief] is the name of the hill on which he was killed, as the verse proves : — 
 " ' Ollar and Ollarba, 
 
 Ceann gubha lordly, noble, 
 
 They are not names without a cause, 
 
 The day on which Tuathal was slain.' " 
 
 The whole scene, familiar to the eyes of my boyhood, is so present to the 
 mind in reading Dr. Reeves's further note (Ecc. Ant. Down and Connor), that I 
 may be excused for presenting it in lieu of any farther local explanations of my 
 own : — 
 
 "The Larne Eiver rises by two heads in Ballybraken Moss, in the parish of Ballynure. 
 The Six-Mile Water rises in a spring in Ballyboley Park Moss, in the parish of Ballycor, a 
 little S.W. of Shane's Hill : after a course of about 100 perches it becomes the boundary 
 between that parish and Kilwaughter, as well as between the baronies of Upper Glenarm and 
 Upper Antrim. 
 
 " Here also is a large bog, probably the Moin-an-Catha of a preceding passage, which 
 lies between the two rivers. A deep drain, which was intended to intersect it, was 
 abandoned before Its completion, on the plea that it was calculated to divert into the Larne 
 Kiver a portion of the water which prescriptively ran into the Six-Mile Water, and thus affect 
 the bleaching interest on that side. On the face of Ballyboley Hill, about a quarter of a mile 
 to the west, is a place called Carn-doo, and here, under the brow of the hill, is a pile locally 
 called the Abbey. It consists of several huge stones, ranged in an irregular circle, the space 
 within being chiefly occupied by six large upright stones, disposed in pairs, and supporting 
 two blocks, above five feet long, and from two to three feet square, laid horizontally upon 
 them. This massive erection is not noticed on the Ordnance Map, but should appear on 
 sheet 46. For two miles along the face of the hill which forms the western boundary of the 
 valley of the Six-Mile Water is a series of foundations of inclosures, called by the people 
 Boley houses. They are for the most part quadrangular, and look like ancient foundations 
 of small cabins, with paddocks attached to them. Tradition says that they were employed 
 by the inhabitants of the valley when, in summer, they drove up their cattle to the pasturage 
 on the heights. These curious remains of a remote period begin where the new Ballymena 
 and Larne road passes beside Shane's Hill, at an eminence called Cruic-nu-Grania, and 
 extend in a S.W. direction on the brow of the hill overhanging the valley. The valley of the 
 
206 Notes. 
 
 Six-Mile Water is exceedingly fertile, and the view of it from the top of Ballyboley Hill is 
 one of great beauty. 
 
 "In the sixteenth century the Six-Mile Water had lost the name Ollar; as the appellation 
 by which it was then known among the native Irish was Owen-7ia-view, i.e., abhain na 
 bhfeadh, 'river of the rushes.' " 
 
 Liban's song possesses some poetical elements, both in sentiment and in 
 diction ; bat is chiefly curious as offering an example, in some of its stanzas, of 
 verse (trochaic) regularly rhymed according to the modern method of consonantal 
 agreements. 
 
 Fo loch Echach adba dam 
 
 Ar din sceng dron dringed graig; 
 Erdalta fo bruinnib btlrc 
 
 Tondmo thuighi, tracht mo fraig. 
 
 Underneath Loch Echach's tide, 
 
 Safe in mine appointed hall ; 
 Breasts of barques above me glide ; 
 
 Wave, my ceiling ; sand, my wall. &c. 
 
 43. " His mantle skirted stiff icith soil." (page 53, line 19.) 
 
 The Irish and Highland reader will recognise the Bodach an chota lachtna 
 in this ideal of the tutelary genius of the text. If the original has been elevated 
 or gifted with any adventitious dignity, it is to Mangan it should be ascribed in 
 the first instance. His " Churl of the Grey Coat," in the Irish Penny Journal, 
 framed on a version of the Irish story made for him by O'Donovan, is a favour- 
 able example of what can be done in the avoidance of vulgarisms, and the 
 legitimate uplifting of such a subject into somethiug of poetic dignity. 
 
 44. " I am the Washer of the Ford." {page 57, line 23.) 
 This incident of the Banshee performing her prophetical office for an entire 
 army is taken from M'Craith's '' Wars of Turlogh" (MS., U.I.A.). Of all the 
 
Notes. 207 
 
 instances of Bardic exaggeration with which I am acquainted, it may claim to 
 be the least illegitimate. Nothing more indicates a childish condition of the 
 popular mind than its delighting in mere exaggerations of bulk, of strength, of 
 endurance, such as abound in our old literature. But the idea of extending the 
 terror of an apparition — usually supposed to haunt one individual only at a 
 time — to the simultaneous apprehensions of a host of men, carries with it some- 
 thing large in imaginative conception, and may claim a degree even of sublimity. 
 In the original, the apparition encounters the Clan Brian Roe when marching to 
 their destruction at the impending battle of Doolin, in Clare, A.d. 1317. 
 
 45. " At red Troy Brena." (page 59, line 8.) 
 
 The battle of Traigh-brena, near Aileach, on the eastern shore of Loch 
 Swilly, took place a.d. 628 (Q.M.) ; but whether it was a different occasion from 
 that on which King Sweeny lost his life by the hands of Congal Claen, as in the 
 text, I am unable to affirm. In this, as in the greater part of the poem, I lay 
 no claim to entire historic accuracy. Those who would know the meagre facts 
 more authentically preserved, will seek for them in original sources. 
 
 46. " Have borne the Waring's guardian axe." (page 70, line 16.) 
 The Varangian guard did not become an established institution at the 
 Byzantine court until long after the period of this story. But, even at this early 
 time, many of the Norse adventurers were in the habit of seeking their fortunes 
 " out " in " Greek-land." Some of them have left the record of their having 
 earned wealth and renown, in this way, in runes which have been read by 
 Professor Stephens, of the Danish University, on the stones of their sepulchres 
 in various parts of Denmark and Scandinavia. (See his magnificent work on 
 Runic Monuments.) As yet, our early Irish and British inscriptions have yielded 
 nothing to compare in historic interest with these proofs of a national intercourse 
 
208 Notes. 
 
 between Scandinavia and South Europe, unnoticed in the books or paper-writings 
 of the period. If the Waring (or Varangian guardsman) had not become a 
 recognized constituent of the Imperial establishment before the seventh century, 
 I must seek safety from any shaft of censure behind the shield of a powerful 
 protector. 
 
 . . . then, by promise, he receives 
 
 Gift to his progeny of all the land 
 
 From Hamath, northward, to the Desert, south. 
 
 (Things by their names I call, though yet unnamed.) 
 
 47. " Of wizard Olanna-Nemed." (page 74, line 6.) 
 When the old Irish historians carry back their origins to Nemedius, who 
 is made the common ancestor of successive swarms of conquering tribes from 
 Greece and Scythia, it is more than probable that the name is used in its sense 
 of " divine " or " noble," as contradistinguished from the base, or Atacottic, tribes 
 whom they found in these islands on their first arrival. Pezron, who found in 
 the Gods of the classical Pantheon, the kings and leaders of a superior race, con- 
 quering a class of enslaved Titanian aborigines, may yet obtain more acceptance 
 for the leading idea of his essay than it has been its fate to receive, for now nearly 
 two centuries. 
 
 48. " Laery Mac Kent" [page 76, line 24.) 
 
 The entombment of this last Pagan monarch of Ireland in the outer rampart 
 of his citadel at Tara, has been made the subject of a fine lyric by Mr. Aubrey 
 de Vere. Mr. de Vcre has, more than any other converter of Irish traditionary 
 material to the cultured uses of modern literature, given sweetness, elegance, and 
 the dignity of a high religious philosophy to his subjects. Pressed by the name- 
 difEculty, which is the great stumbling-block in the way of all efforts of this kind, 
 Mr. de Vere converts the Pagan Laeghari into its Anglo-Norman equivalent, 
 Lehaire = Lothair. 
 
Notes. 209 
 
 49. ■• Murhearta, son of Ere." (page 78, line 1.) 
 This monarch took his name from his mother, Ere, or Erca, daughter of 
 Loarn. Her sister Pompa, or Babona, was mother by Saran, a British king, of 
 three ecclesiasties, Carnech, Ronan, and Brecan, all of whom have attained 
 eminent places in Irish hagiology, and of Luirig, who succeeded to his father's 
 rule in Britain. The life of Murkearta, if we are to admit even a slender founda- 
 tion in fact for Irish historical tradition, appears to have been influenced to no 
 small extent for evil by the counsels of his cousin Carnech. Expelled in his 
 youth from Ireland, for having slain certain crossans (cross-bearers in religious 
 processions), and afterwards expelled from Scotland for having slain his grand- 
 father Loarn, he took refuge in Britain, where the usual struggle of the ecclesi- 
 astical against the temporal power was going forward between the brothers 
 Carnech and Luirig. " Luirig," says the Irish tract (Miracles of Carnech, Ir. 
 Nenn., App. 1, p. 179), 
 
 " Extended his power over the Saxons, and he forcibly built a fort within the precincts 
 of the monastery of Carnech his brother. Muivkeartach Mac Erca happened to be at that 
 time with the King of Britain, learning military science. It happened that he was getting 
 his arms consecrated by Cairnech, the son of his mother's sister : then Cairnech said to him, 
 Thou shalt be King of Eri and of Britain for ever, and shalt go to heaven after, provided thou 
 canst but prevent Luirig from exercising his power against the church. Then Mac Erca 
 went to the King; and after he came he told his message, viz. : Build not thy city (said he) 
 in the precincts of Cairnech, the bishop. By my judge (as God is my judge), said Luirig, J 
 think more of the power of the pet wild fawn he has than of his own power, or of the power 
 of the Associate-God (Coimdha) whom he adores. Bine Erca returned to Cairnech and told 
 him the result. Great wrath suddenly seized Cairnech, et dixit, My prayer to my Lord, to 
 my God, is, that that my fawn may be the cause of his death, and by thy hand, O Mac Erca ! 
 Cairnech thou commanded Mac Erca to go forth and destroy his (Cairnech's) brother, and he 
 went forth at the command of Cairnech to destroy the King. And God worked a great miracle 
 there for Cairnech, viz. : he sent a wild fawn out of the mountain into the King's assembly, 
 and the host (the guards) all went in pursuit of it, except the King himself and his women. 
 St dixit Mac Erca, If you had been just, my Lord, towards your cleric, it is certain that it 
 would give increased happiness to see the royal robe on Luirig. Then Mac Erca thrust his 
 battle-staff into the King's side, so that it was balanced : and he returned to his cleric, and 
 the head of the King with him as a token ; et dixit, Lo, here is thy brother's head for thee, 
 Cairnech. Et dixit Cairnech. Leave me the bone, but eat thou the marrow, and every 
 third coarb (benefice) shall be thine for ever, here and in Erin." 
 
 2 E 
 
210 Notes. 
 
 Murkearta's end was not inappropriate to these bloody and degrading be- 
 ginnings. After having reigned for many years at Tara, he revolted against the 
 authority of Cernach, in the matter of a concubine, and Cernach uttered one of 
 the enigmatical curse-prophecies often resorted to by the ecclesiastics of those 
 days, against his patron : — 
 
 " I am fearful for the man who shall be burned in fire and whom wine shall drown, 
 On the side of Cliteach on account of the storm-encircled woman." 
 
 Sill (not ill-named) was the instrument by whom the prophecy had its 
 fulfilment. 
 
 " Having lost her father, mother, sisters, and others of her family, who were of the old 
 tribe of Tara, by the hand of Muircheartach, in the battle of Cirb or Ath-Sighe (now Assey) 
 on the Boyne, she threw herself in his way, and became his mistress for the express purpose of 
 wreaking her vengeance on him with the greater facility." — (O'Donovan in Ann. Quat. May. 
 ad an. 526 n.) 
 
 This she accomplished by setting fire to the house on the night of the 1st of 
 November, a.d. 527, when the King, to avoid the flames, plunged into a puncheon 
 of wine, and was suffocated. "And so,'' says the racy translator of the Annals 
 of Clonmacnoise, 
 
 " King Moriertagh, having had prosperous success, as well before he came to the crown 
 as after, against those that rebelled against him, was at last drowned in a kegoe of wine in 
 one of his own manour houses called Cleytagh, neere the River Boyne, by a fairie woman 
 that burned the house over the King's head, on Hollantide. The King thinking to save his 
 life from burning, entered the kegoe of wine, but was so high that the wine could not keep him 
 from [for] depth. . And this is the end of King Moriertagh who was both killed, 
 
 drowned, and burned together, through his own folly that trusted this woman, contrary to the 
 advice of St. Oarnengh." — (MS. in Lib. E.I.A.) 
 
 50. " Lfiry Mac Ltiert/." (pnye 78, line 5.) 
 
 The occasion and effect of the curse referred to is thus related from the same 
 annals as last cited, at a.d. 421, and again at a.d. 509. After describing the 
 contest between St. Patrick and the Magicians of King Laeghari at Tara, the 
 translator proceeds : — 
 
Notes. 211 
 
 " Saint Patrick overcame the Magitians ; and by the helpe and power of God made 
 boisterous whirlwynda and earthquakes to terrify the King and people, to the end (that) terror 
 to (should) make them believe, notwithstanding which the King was so obstinate that he 
 would not receive baptisme but faygnedly by mouth only until at last the Queen being much 
 terrified by these strange sights told the Saint that the King was ready to receive baptisme ; 
 but the Saint knowing that this was for dissimulation and fear, cursed the King and his 
 posterity for ever, and humbly besought God of his infinite power that none of that King's 
 posterity should ever after inherit the crown of Ireland. The Queen hearing this curse, prayed 
 the Saint that it might stand with his pleasure to avert that curse and that it might not light 
 on her issue then in her womb, to which he replied and said he was content that it should so 
 stand with God's pleasure that the said curse should not fall on the issue then in her womb, 
 until the issue had deserved it by speaking or doing something against the will of Saint 
 
 Patrick Lowye Mac Legari King of Ireland, as he was walking in the fields saw a 
 
 chapule that was dedicated to Saint Patrick, and said ' This is the church of the clorak that 
 prophesied that none of my father's posterity should inherit the crown of Ireland. He is 
 false.' And in saying so there came a thunderbolt from heaven which lighted on the King's 
 head and struck him stark dead. This was at a place called Achy Forrha. Thus Saint 
 Patrick's words were fulfilled in this King (Zeaghari) one of whose posterity, though he was 
 the eldest son of King Nealus Magnus, never enjoyed the crown since nor never shall." — 
 (Ann. Clon. MS. in Lib. E.I.A.) 
 
 51. " On Moyra' s fated field." {page 81, line 16.) 
 There is not the least doubt that O'Dugan, in his topographical poem, 
 written just five hundred years ago, identifies the Moyra of this battle with the 
 present Moira. It was here the O'Lavery family, with whom he associates his 
 " Moyra of the furious feuds," are found seated down to the reign of Charles II. 
 Four hundred years before O'Dugan's time, Cormacan Eigeas, in his "Circuit 
 of Murkearta Pell-Cloak " — an expedition in which he personally took part, a.d. 
 941, — has placed its position beyond question in the order of their several days' 
 march southward from Aileach — first night's halt, Oenach-cross ; second, Dunaghy 
 in Antrim ; third, Moyrath ; fourth, Glen-Eee ; fifth, Linn Duachaill ; and so on 
 to Dublin, &c. The local names of Cam- Albany and Aughnafoskar, at Moira, 
 appear still to preserve the memory of some of the events of the battle, although 
 the change of population which took place after the Plantation of Ulster has 
 almost obliterated the local traditionary recollections (see n. 67). 
 
212 Notes. 
 
 03. " . . . . the fosse 
 
 The Black Boar scoojieil." (page 82, line 5.) 
 
 The dyke which divided the eastern portion of the Clan-Colla's possessions 
 from the remnant of the kingdom of Ulster may still be traced along the line of the 
 Newry Canal and onward into Armagh and Louth. See an interesting account 
 of it in Stuart's " Armagh." In Irish tradition it is called the Glen of the Black 
 Pig, a mythical monster, said to have been banished, after the establishment of 
 Christianity, to the Hebridean seas, where his "rootings" may be seen in stormy 
 weather in the hollows of the waves, and his " gruntings" heard from the 
 caverned rocks of Mull and Isla. 
 
 53. " The route Kinrj Ditthi took." {page 83, line 15.) 
 
 The story of the death of Dathi at the foot of the Alps, and of the return 
 of his warriors under the protection of what they made to resemble his still- 
 breathing body, is told with so much of circumstance, and the narration of these 
 circumstances is at the present day so hard to translate, that it seems most 
 unlikely to be a forgery. See the particulars in O'Donovan's " Hy-Fiachrach." 
 And observe, Pharamond disappears from history cotemporaneously with 
 the appearance of Formenius, the recluse-King, in storming whose hermitage- 
 castle Dathi is struck by the lightning, a.d. 426. Pharamond is regarded as a 
 mythical person because his name does not appear in Prosper ; but the canon of 
 criticism, which denies the existence of all who are not named in particular works 
 of authority, will not bear examination. 
 
 54. " Cattle-plundering Mnev." (page 85, line 8.) 
 
 There is some hope that the authentic text of the Tain-bo- Cuailgne, with 
 an adequate translation, will shortly be given to the world. Of Maev, the 
 amazonian leader of the expedition, a curious fact may here be noticed. At 
 Croghan (a mile west from Tulsk, in Eoscommon), which certainly was her 
 
Notes. 213 
 
 residence, there are extensive remains, including the old Pagan cemetery, and a 
 remarkable cave, partly artificial, called traditionally " Queen Maev's Treasury." 
 The materials for the artificial portion, or ante-grotto, of this cave, appear to have 
 been taken from the adjoining-burial ground, two of the roofing-stones bearing 
 Ogham inscriptions, which must have been sculptured before the stones were 
 built into their places. On one of these the name Maev, in an ancient spelling 
 (Medf), certainly exists. It records the name of a son of Medff, apparently (so 
 far as a fracture of the surface will admit of certainty) called Freoch. The whole 
 inscription runs thus : — Freoocimaqimedffi. The adjoining relig-na-ree, or royal 
 burying-place of the early monarchs and nobles of Connaught, contains a multi- 
 tude of sepulchral chambers of small dimensions and no decorative detail.. So 
 petty are the remains here and at Usnach (another place of Pagan sepulture, 
 mentioned in the " dinnsenchus of the cemeteries "), and so unconformable to the 
 grand monuments on the Boyne below Slane, and on the Loughcrew hills over 
 Oldcastle, that it seems very difficult to refer them to the same period ; and lends 
 countenance to the idea, which was strongly impressed on the minds of O'Donovan 
 and other associates of Petrie, that the monuments at Brugh, on the Boyne, 
 enumerated in the " cemeteries " tract, are to be looked for at Broad Boyne, near 
 Stackallen, where there exists a number of sepulchral remains of minor propor- 
 tions, rather than among the magnificent constructions of New Grange, Knowth, 
 and Dowth. 
 
 55. " By mere enchantment of his gaze." (page 85, line 24.) 
 Thus, in British tradition, King Owen ap Maxen is said to have buried 
 the head of Bran ap Llyr in the Tower Hill of London, for a talisman of defence 
 to the island ; but King Arthur indiscreetly revealed it : and, in like manner, 
 Gortimer, before his death, " said to the Britons to bury him on the brink of the 
 sea, and that the strangers would never afterwards come into the island." (Ir. 
 Nenn., p. 101.) To which the learned Algernon Herbert adds, citing Triad 53, 
 series 3, " The bones of Gurthevyr were buried in the chief ports of the island, 
 
214 Notes. 
 
 and whilst they were concealed, the oppression of the island was impossible. But 
 
 Voi'tigera of the Perverse Mouth revealed his bones, out of love for Ronwen, 
 
 daughter of Hengist the Saxon." — {Ibid, n.) The story of King Owen in the 
 
 text is taken from the " Hy Fiachrech, p. 427 : — 
 
 " Eoghan also told them to bury himself with his red javelin in his hand in the grave. 
 ' Place my feet towards the north, on the side of the hill by which the northerns pass when 
 flying before the army of Connaught ; let my grave face them, and place myself in it after 
 this manner.' And this order was strictly complied with ; and in every place where the ' 
 ClannaNeill and Connacians met in conflict, the ClannaNeill and the northerns were routed, 
 being panic stricken by the countenances of their foes ; so that the Clanna Neill and the 
 people of the north of Ireland therefore resolved to come with a numerous host to Eaith 
 O'bh-Fiachrach and raise the body o/" Eoghan from the grave, and carry his remains north- 
 wards across the Sligo. This was done, and the body was buried at the other side of the 
 river, at Aenach Loeha Gile, with the mouth down, that it might not be the means of causing 
 them to fly before the Connacians." 
 
 Query, is the stone circle still remaining on the eastern outskirts of the town 
 of Sligo the remains of King Owen's first sepulchre? 
 
 56. "By Saint Grelhoi's did." (page 86, line 17.) 
 When the Clan Colla, about the middle of the fifth century, had multiplied 
 to an inconvenient extent in that part of Ulster which they had won from the 
 Rudrician Kings of Emania, they resolved to send forth a swarm, under the 
 leadership of Maine Mor, to seek new seats in the West. A territory from 
 which the Firvolg inhabitants had not yet been expelled, lying about the 
 Suck and Shannon, seemed most suitable for their purpose. Cian, the prince 
 of this district, was of the inferior race, and probably his tribes had not fully 
 accepted Christianity. Grellan, a bishop who had already been established 
 in the southern part of Connaught, appears to have been seeking further 
 church-sites and revenues in Cian's territory at the time when the northern 
 hordes made their appearance. The "Life of Grellan" (Tribes and Customs 
 of Hy-Mania, p. 8) relates some curious particulars of his mediation between 
 the invaders and invaded : — 
 
Notes. 215 
 
 " He ratified a peace between them, and ordered that three times nine persons out of 
 their nobility (i.e., of the invading party) should be given into the hands of Cian, as hostages. 
 Amalgaid (Aulyj, son of Maine, was the noblest of these hostages, and he was given into the 
 hands of Cian's Judge. And the wife of the Judge fell in love with him, which when the Judge 
 observed, he was filled with jealousy and hatred of the prisoner, on account of the wife ; and he 
 went to where Cian was, and induced [solicited] him to kill the hostages without delay in one 
 
 night. On the day following it was pretended that Cian had a feast prepared for them ; 
 
 but he had not (a feast) but treachery. This design was made known to Grellan, who was 
 
 the guarantee between them When Grellan had, from the door of his church perceived 
 
 the arms and the great hosts, he raised his two hands to God, being apprehensive that his 
 guarantees would be violated, and he obtained his request from God, for the great plain was 
 softened and made a quagmire under the feet of Cian and his people, so that they were 
 swallowed into the earth ; and the place received the name of Magh Liach, i.e., the Plain of 
 Sorrow, from the sorrow of the heroes who were thus cut oflF by the holy cleric. Then 
 Maine and his people came to where Grellan was and bowed down their heads to him, and he 
 told them how treachery had been designed for them, and how God and himself had saved 
 them from these treacherous people. Grellan then said to them, ' Take possession of this 
 territory ; eliminate treachery ; and you shall have my blessing. Observe brotherly love ; 
 and ordain my tribute and my own law for me from this day forth for ever.' ' Pass thy own 
 award,' said Maine, ' in whatever is pleasing to thee.' ' I shall,' said Grellan. He repeated 
 tiie verses following — 
 
 ' Great is my tribute on the race of Maine, 
 A scruple out of every household, 
 
 &c. &c. 
 Eefuse not your tribute to me, and you shall receive as I have promised, 
 My blessing on the agile race, the sons of Maine of chess-boards, 
 That race shall not be subdued, so as they carry my crozier, 
 Let the battle-standard of the race be my crozier of true value, 
 And battles shall not overwhelm them ; their successes shall be very great.' " 
 
 Commenting on this singular story, the candid O'Donovan says, " It is to 
 be lamented that no Firbolgie writer survived to relate [his] account of this 
 transaction." The tribute or cain of an ecclesiastic was called his " Law." 
 Hence, when it is said such a place received the " Law" of Kieran, of Grellan, 
 of Patrick, &c, understand, submitted to the ecclesiastical dues of such and 
 such churches. Ultimately, the " Law " of Patrick superseded all the others, 
 resulting in the Primacy of Armagh. (Reeves's " Visitation of Archbp. Colton." 
 Introd. in Publications of the Irish Arch. Soc.) 
 
216 Notes. 
 
 57. " Chins of the Martin.'" (page 88, line 23.) 
 
 Martini was the generic name (whence derived, or signifying what, is 
 unexplained) by which the descendants of the older or ante-Milesian populations 
 were known in Irish ethnology. Dudly Mac Fiibis, in the introduction to his 
 large book of pedigrees, enumerates various families of them inhabiting large 
 districts both of the south and west. They appear to have been chiefly of 
 Firvolgic descent ; and to have been regarded as ignoble and unworthy of a 
 place in the lists of the saor-clanna, or noble families of the Gael. Mac Firbis 
 protests against this disregard of so large an element in the native Irish popu- 
 lation ; and treats the subject with a wise and humane consideration quite in 
 accordance with his hereditary philosophic occupation. It is against the dictum 
 of Keating who had deemed the free tribes only worthy of notice in his Forus 
 Focul, that he records his protest. We have had so few examples of anything 
 like a philosophic application of native Irish learning, that I shall need no 
 excuse for extracting from O'Donovan's version of Mac Firbis's essay at some 
 length : — 
 
 " Some tell me that it is a loss of time to dwell upon these aforementioned trihes, they 
 being so few in number now, and so ignoble in ancient times ; and others affirm thilt it is 
 unworthy a Historian to dwell upon the history of the Attacots or Plebeian tribes who inhabit 
 in Ireland ; and that if anyone should undertake to trace up their genealogical ramifications, 
 his writings should not be regarded as History. But I would ask, How can History be 
 perfect without writing upon the Plebeians as well as the Nobles ; upon the Slaves as well as 
 the Freemen? Divines say that there nevi r was a King that was not sprung from a Plebeian : 
 for instance, David was a Shepherd, and Saul a Keeper of she-asses, before they (respectively) 
 were Kings, &c. How could we know that there ever were slaves, unless some one had 
 written of them? Fasciculus Temporum says that Human Nobility commenced about the 
 time of erecting Nimrod's Tower : from Adam until then, all in general (as is very reasonable 
 to suppose) were either Husbandmen or Shepherds. Why then are the pedigreea of these 
 Peasants traced up for a period of 2,500 years ? Behold the tyrannical disposition of the 
 Powerful, who wish to extinguish the titles and history of the Weak; and who, although 
 they themselves may be descended from the most ignoble Slaves, wish to raise then own 
 dignity, and to look upon the weak, though of ever so noble extraction as scarce of human 
 respect 
 
 " For these reasons, and moreover because the general opinion is that the Firbolgs 
 principally constituted the Attacots or Plebeians of Ireland, in ancient times, I shall set down 
 here the six kinds of peoples that were really so, 
 
Notes. 217 
 
 " First. — The remnant of the Firbolgs and of the Tuath de Danans. 
 
 "Second. — People who departed from their own territories, and (though sprung from 
 Freemen) voluntarily subjected themselves to pay tribute to another tribe. 
 
 " Third. — Those whose lands were conquered, and who remained enslaved by the superior 
 strength of their enemies. 
 
 "Fourth. — Those of the Freemen who fell into slavery through their own crimes, and 
 who lost their nobility and lands through their misconduct, according to law. 
 
 " Fifth. — Those who were descended from the Soldiers of Adventurers, that is from 
 foreign Soldiers taken into pay by the Irish. 
 
 " Sixth. — Those who are descended from the Slaves whom the sons of Milesius brought 
 into Ireland. 
 
 " It is true that there are many of these tribes in Ireland, to this day, whose genealogies 
 and pedigrees are wholly unknown; and there are also innumerable families of purest Milesian 
 blood, whose pedigrees are not recorded since they fell into low circumstances, and were ex- 
 pelled from their native territories, and unable to support learned men, owing to the tyranny 
 of Foreign Adventurers who drove them from then" settlements, and have continued such 
 hostilities these 500 years until now (1666) ; and also before that period, the Milesians 
 themselves had so oppressed one another that several noble families fell into obscurity, and 
 we find their pedigrees on record only while they were in power. Some of our own cotem- 
 poraries wonder that there should be mention made in prose or verse of families more royal 
 or more noble than themselves. The Proud fancy to themselves that there never was magni- 
 cence but with themselves, or the tribe whence they sprung, while at the same time they see 
 
 not half their own ignorance [Some say] that every chieftain at present in 
 
 Ireland, excepting the Eoganaohts, is of the posterity of Nuadat the Silver-handed (i.e., Trial 
 the Wise), son of Heremon, son of Milesius of Spain. Others say, &c. Others say, &c. 
 But these distinctions are to no purpose ; for there exists but the proud Noble and the 
 humble Plebeian [ever] mutually exchanging their stations. 
 
 " The ignorant, with a view to bring our History into disrepute, falsely assert that it 
 traces the pedigree of every Irishman to Milesius. But, it not only does not trace the fore- 
 mentioned tribes and Plebians to him, but it does not trace all the descendants of Milesius 
 himself to him; nor do we find Books or Authorities for so doing : nor do the Seanachies 
 (as the ignorant think) set forth that all the O's and Mac's in Ireland are Gadelians (for they 
 are not), although I do not say but there are a thousand surnames in England and Scotland 
 and all the British Isles as well as in Ireland itself, without or Mac, that are true Gadelians. 
 
 " But the Seanachies certainly enumerate tribes that formerly lived in Ireland, who were 
 not Gadelians (Gaels), of which the following old saying bears testimony, &c. 
 
 " Were you to consult the Eoll (census) which Cromwell made of the men of Ireland 
 a.d. 1652,.which is in "Dublin, where also are the genuine Books of Irish History, viz. the 
 large Book of Mac Firbises of Lecan from this country, and the Book of Ballymote from 
 Corran also in our neighbourhood, and many other principal Books written in Irish these 
 many centuries, you would find that there are very many more old Irish surnames in the 
 English Census than in all the Irish Books in Dublin : from which you [may] infer that our 
 
 2 F 
 
218 Notes. 
 
 History does not trace every surname in Ireland to Milesius. I speak not of the old English 
 here,"— (MS. in Lib. E.I.A.) 
 
 58. " Scyth, Agatliyrs and Oelon." {page 89, line 6.) 
 The story told by Herodotus (Melp.), that these were the sons of 
 Hercules, by the serpent-woman, Echidna, is just such a legend as would be 
 apt to take the imagination, and give rise to new forms of fable among the 
 Celts. But we find in the traditions of the Irish and Picts, such a reflection 
 only of the tale, without any of its romantic incidents, as tends to negative 
 the idea of their having merely dressed up a stray extract from the Classics 
 for the purpose of fabricating their respective national pedigrees ; and suggests 
 very persuasively that all these stories descend, independently, from a common 
 parent-narrative. The tale in Herodotus is one of the most picturesque pieces 
 of antiquity, and breathes an air so Scythic — I had almost said so Scotic — 
 that it would excite no surprise if found in our own Dinnsenchus. A version 
 of it is given in a little volume now difficult to obtain, from which I transfer it 
 to these pages, as an interesting link between eastern and western European 
 legendary sources : — 
 
 THE ORIGIN OF THE SCYTHIANS. 
 
 When, o'er Raphasan wastes the Son of Jove 
 Slain Geryon's beeves from Erytheia drove, 
 Sharp nipp'd the frost, and feathery whirls of snow 
 Fill'd upper air and hid the earth below. 
 The hero, on the ground, his steeds beside, 
 Spread, shaggy huge, the dun Nemean hide ; 
 And, warmly folded, while the tempest swept 
 The dreary Hyperborean desert, slept. 
 
 When Hercules awoke and looked around, 
 The milk-white mares were nowhere to be found. 
 
Notes 219 
 
 Long searched the hero all the neighbouring plain, 
 The brakes and thickets ; but he searched in vain. 
 At length he reached a gloomy cave ; and there 
 He found a woman as a goddess fair ; 
 A perfect woman downward to the knee, 
 But, all below, a snake, in coiled deformity. 
 
 With mutual wonder each the other eyed ; 
 He questioned of his steeds, and she replied : — 
 " Hero, thy steeds, within my secret halls, 
 " Are safely stabled in enchanted stalls ; 
 " But if thou thence my captives wouldst remove, 
 " Thou, captive too, must yield me love for love." 
 
 Won by the price ; perchance by passion swayed, 
 Alcides yielded to the Monster-maid. 
 
 The steeds recovered, and the burnished car 
 Prepared, she said, — " Remember, when afar, 
 " That, sprung from thee, three mighty sons shall prove 
 " Me not unworthy of a hero's love. 
 " But, when my babes are grown to manhood, where 
 " Wouldst thou thy sons should seek a father's care?" 
 
 The soft appeal the stern Alcides felt : — 
 And " Take," he said, "this bow and glittering belt :" — 
 From his broad breast the baldrick he unslung, 
 (A golden phial from its buckle hung) : 
 " And, when my sons are grown to man's estate, 
 " Him whom thou first shalt see decline the weight 
 " Of the great belt, or fail the bow to bend, 
 " To Theban Hercules, his father, send 
 " For tutelage ; but him whom thou shalt see 
 " Thus bear the belt, thus bend the bow, like me, 
 
220 Notes. 
 
 " Nought further needing by thy side retain, 
 " The destined monarch of the northern plain." 
 He went. The mighty mother, at a birth, 
 Gave Gel on, Agathyrs and Scyth to Earth. 
 To early manhood grown, the former twain 
 Essay'd to bear the belt and bow in vain : 
 And, southward banished from their mother's face, 
 Sought lighter labours in the fields of Thrace : 
 While, far refulgent over plain and wood, 
 Herculean Scyth the glittering belt indued, 
 And, striding dreadful on his fields of snow, 
 With aim unerring twanged the Alcidan bow. 
 From him derived, the illustrious Scythian name 
 And all the race of Scythian monarchs came. 
 
 Gelon's name seems preserved in the Fir-Galeon of Irish history, who 
 appear to be substantially the same tribe with the Firvolg. The origin assigned 
 for the latter name, i.e., " bag-men," from the leathern bags in which, when in 
 slavery in Thrace, they carried earth for terrace-cultivation, is less improbable than 
 many other derivations of respectable authority. The traces of such cultivation 
 still exist over extensive tracts of the hill-country of Northumberland and the 
 border ; notably along the line of the wall. (See Bruce, and illustrations 
 in the splendid work of the Duke of Northumberland.) I think I have read, 
 but cannot recall the authority, that some tribes of the Belgse carried objects 
 suspended at their girdles, in commemoration of the phial in the Greek story. 
 
 59. " The three Collets." (page 90, line 5.) 
 The romantic story of the expulsion and return of these Irish Heraclidae, 
 has been very agreeably put in the form of an historical narrative by Stuart 
 {Hist. Armagh). But it must be owned the material is more suitable for verse ; 
 
Notes. 221 
 
 and the dress in which the barbaric tale is presented, may serve as a good 
 example of the mistaken airs of historical treatment sometimes assumed in dealing 
 with material of this nature, which have been very justly animadverted on by Mr. 
 Hill Burton, in his History of Scotland (vol. i., p. 85 «.) : — 
 
 " In the year of Christ, 315, Colla Uais, the grandson of Cairbre Liffeachair, was proclaimed 
 monarch of Ireland. This prince, aided by his two brothers, Colla Mean and Colla Da Crioch, 
 had rebelled against his uncle, King Fiachadh Streabhthuine, and, having overthrown and 
 slain him in battle, had usurped his crown. In the year 319, Muireadhach Tireach, the son 
 of the deceased sovereign, collected a considerable force, with which he assailed Colla Uais, 
 whom he totally routed and drove from the kingdom. 
 
 " The fugitive prince, and his two brothers, fled to Scotland, by whose monarch they were 
 hospitably received. Here they continued, in total inaction, for the space of three years, 
 with three hundred soldiers — the remnant of their ruined army. 
 
 " The Collas were princes of a most daring and enterprising spirit — of boundless ambition, 
 and altogether fearless of death. They were anxious to transmit the crown of Erin to their 
 posterity, and placed the most implicit reliance on a prophecy then current, which predicted 
 that if they should be slain by the king of Ireland, the throne would be transferred to their 
 lineal descendants, and remain in their possession for ever. 
 
 " Tired of inaction, which ill suited their restless disposition, and unable to raise troops 
 for the invasion of Ireland, these adventurous chiefs determined to surrender themselves to 
 their lawful sovereign, Muireadhach, under an impression that he would avenge the murder 
 of his father, by putting them to instantaneous death, and that the crown of Ireland would, 
 therefore, in fulfilment of the prediction, be transferred to their children, and vested in their 
 family from generation to generation. 
 
 " They found the king at Tara, to whom they surrendered themselves, stating that, struck 
 with remorse and horror at the atrocious acts of treason, rebellion, and murder which they 
 had perpetrated, they had come to receive the punishment due to their crimes. 
 
 " The king, who was as well aware of the prediction as the Collas, and who deemed the 
 welfare and honour of his children and his posterity to be more exalted and noble objects of 
 ambition than the gratification of personal revenge, not only pardoned the offence of his 
 rebellious kinsmen, but settled a princely revenue upon them, and gave them a command in 
 his armies — ' Clemency,' said he, ' is the brightest jewel in the crown of princes. I forgive 
 your crimes, leaving revenge to the immortal Gods, and to the emotions of remorse which 
 agitate your souls.' 
 
 " The Collas, after this event, conducted themselves with zeal and fidelity in the posts 
 of honour which the king had assigned them. But Muireadhach, in order to give employment 
 to their active spirits, and to avenge the wrongs of their common relation, Cormac, son of 
 Art, whom the king of Eamhain had insulted, by burning his beard, determined to send them 
 at the head of an army to ravage and conquer Ulster." 
 
222 Notes. 
 
 In the original sources of the story (which were old in the twelfth century), 
 it is stated that the mother of the three Collas was Oilech, daughter of Ugari, 
 King of Alba. At the corresponding time, in the pedigree of William the Lion, 
 we find ALirhirre ; in the lists in Keating, Egar Kerr • and in Hector Boece, 
 Atharton, It seems a strong corroboration of the existence of a line of Irish 
 Albanian Reguli, prior to the Ercian or second Dalriadan settlement. 
 
 To this I shall add two other testimonies to the existence of the earlier 
 settlement, drawn from a work of unimpeachable authenticity, the Somas, or 
 Glossary of Cormac, compiled late in the ninth, or early in the tenth, century : 
 and, so, above any suggestion of having been fabricated in aid of twelfth- century 
 controversies. It ia to Dr. Whitley Stokes we owe the publication of this and 
 many other authentic remains of early Irish letters. It is hard to say whether 
 this eminent scholar has done more service by his industry in c the transcription 
 and dissemination of the originals, — by the learning he has bestowed on them 
 himself and called into activity in others, — or by the example he has set of a 
 singular purity of style, combined with literalness of translation, being, perhaps, 
 the one boon of which our native scholarship stands most in need. The Sanas, 
 then, preserves this record of the relations of Ireland and Great Britain in the 
 time of Cormac Mac Art, i.e., in the first half of the third century, in a passage 
 which, being incidental to an anecdote that is more concerned with natural than 
 civil history, is all the more reliable on that account. " Mug-Eime, that is the 
 " name of the first lap-dog that was in Ireland. Cairbre Muse, son of Conaire, 
 " brought it from the East, from Britain ; for, when great was the power of the 
 " Gael on Britain, they divided Alba between them into districts, and each knew 
 " the residence of his friend, and not less did the Gael dwell on the east side of 
 " the sea quam in Scotia (Ireland), and their habitations and royal forts were 
 " built there," &c. ; and so proceeds to relate the stratagem by which Cairbre 
 Muse possessed himself of Mug-Eime. Turning then to the Entry " Fir," white, 
 we find an allusion to times still earlier, when, in the days of Curi, the cattle of 
 Echaid Echb61 used to be sent " from Ard Echdai Echbell from Scotland (a 
 h'albai) into the province of (the Irish) Dalriada, and used to be in Semne 
 
Notes. 223 
 
 Uladh," that is, in Moy-Semne, the present Island Magee, — the Isamnium of 
 Ptolemy. This was, it adds, a breed of white cattle with red ears, which Curi 
 afterwards plundered from' the Ulstermen. Could we identify this Ard Echdai 
 (Ardoch ?), it would serve to fix the extent of the Dalriad occupation at a time 
 long before the date of Cairbre Riada, supposed to be the Reutha of Bede. 
 
 A still older testimony to the same state of things appears by the text and 
 glosses of the Senchus M6r, or body of the Brehon Laws, in the story of Dorn, 
 the bondwoman of Fergus, son of Leide^ already referred to {ante, 33). She 
 was enslaved (S.M. 1. 68) for a crime committed by her son, by an Albanian 
 father who is designated a deorad, or member of a different tribe, as contra- 
 distinguished from an urrad, or one of her own tribe ; but not as a foreigner, 
 as a Pict or Briton would have been. This mounts us high into the early 
 Dalriadic story as told (no doubt with abundance of fabrication and romance) 
 by Boece ; and approaches us to that Reutha of his list whose name it is that 
 Bede may now be argued to have had in his contemplation when speaking of 
 the Scotic origin of the Dalreudini. 
 
 60. " Curoi and his Ernaan Knights." (page 90, line 24.) 
 
 Curi, son of Dari, bears so striking a resemblance to Cyrus, son of Darius, 
 that we might suspect we had the Eastern Emperor in the person of the 
 mythical Chieftain who bore off Blainaid to his hill- fort of Gaher-Conri, above 
 Tralee, were it not that the name by its inflexion Curi, Conri, shows it to be 
 one of the " Hound" compounds peculiar to the old Celtic populations (see note 
 on Cuchullin, ante, 10) ; and, in fact, the early association of the place with the 
 name has recently been established in a very singular and interesting manner. 
 
 At a place called Camp, in the valley under the western declivity of Cahir- 
 Conri mountain, and within sight of the traditionary residence qf this celebrated 
 rival of Cuchullin, which stands on the brow of the summit above, lies a 
 monumental stone, resembling the dislodged covering- stone of a Cromlech, 
 
224 Notes. 
 
 bearing along one of its angles an inscription in Ogham characters. Applying 
 the ordinary key, these Ogham groups seem to read thus — soquqeaffmonisocuri, 
 a formidable text for the interpreter. But where syllabic division is arbitrary, it 
 is surprising what can be done by applying the syllabic roots of a language so 
 abounding in monosyllable as the Irish ; and various Irish readings have been 
 accordingly propounded, having reference some to battles, and others to rites of 
 sacrifice, and others conceived in the form of exclamations of sorrow for the death 
 of the hero Cueff. But the Bishop of Limerick, Dr. Graves, considering it atten- 
 tively, perceived that the groups yielding the sound moni would, if inverted, give 
 the well-known constituents of such legends, moqi, " son of" ; and applying the 
 same rule of inversion to the whole string of characters, brought out Conuneatt 
 moqiConuri "(the stone of), Conuneat son [child?] of Curi." Having regard to the 
 locality, nothing could be more interesting ; but the reading rested on something 
 not hitherto admitted into Ogham investigation — namely, a turning upside-down 
 of the text, and the giving to each character the force of its opposite in the 
 reversed scale. Thus the matter rested till, in 1869, in the process of taking a 
 cast of the Ogham digits, it was discovered that the stone bore also a cross and a 
 legend in the debased Latin characters 'of the early Christian period. This Latin 
 inscription obviously repeats one of the names of the associated Ogham ; and 
 reads Feci Cununi, or Fecit Cununit. The Conuri is unquestionably the same 
 name as the Conri of the mountain, modified according to a method of imparting 
 dignity by, amongst other artifices, the insertion of an additional syllable, common 
 in the remains of this curious kind of lapidary literature. (See in Proceedings 
 R.I.A. for 1870-71, a remarkable letter on this subject by the Bishop of 
 Limerick.) 
 
 The name Cunitt, seeming to give origin, in this way, to the Conuneatt of 
 the Camp bilingual, is found on another Ogham-inscribed monument of the same 
 district, preserved at Burnham, the seat of Lord Ventry, near Dingle ; and appears, 
 by several entries in the Book of Lecan, to have actually been, in the form Cinnit, 
 a female family-name among Curi's immediate relatives. He is there stated to 
 have had a sister Cindit. But her period in relation to the Christian associa- 
 
Notes. 225 
 
 tions of the inscription would be startlingly early. Casts of these interesting 
 legends exist in the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy. 
 
 61. "Make again a Ventry at Moyralh." {page 91, line 2.) 
 The Battle of Ventry (Finn-traigh, the White Strand) has long been a 
 favourite subject of Irish story. Its popularity has led to its vulgarisation to a 
 greater extent than in the case of any of the other "Cath" recitations of the 
 Bards. As a set-off to the debasement the old tale has undergone in fitting it 
 for the firesides of the peasantry, we may accept the version of it in the Book 
 of Howth (Calendar of State Papers, Carew, 13-15) as a favourable example 
 of the chivalrous form in which the native stories were arrayed for the enter- 
 tainment of the great Anglo-Norman families. The Chronicler of the St. 
 Laurences, having described (with amazing animation and picturesqueness) what 
 seem to be the battles of Gavra and Knoc-an-aur, proceeds : — 
 
 " The princes of Germany and Spain was advertised by these princes of Denmark, 
 Scotland, Saxons in England, and Normandy in France, that they sent their powers into 
 Ireland, which was overthrown by the princes of Ireland j therefore requiring them that they 
 should not pass into Ireland till a time which they appointed, at which time they all with 
 other their friends would join with them, and so revenge the great losses that they had 
 sustained in those two great battles lost afore. As they did appoint, they landed at Fentra 
 in Munster with 65,000 stalworth soldiers. The leaders was 11 Kings and 35 Kings' sons 
 with many a noble man of war. They landed with great difficulty, for they were met withall 
 at their landing, and seven times they had their repulse and put to their ships, with many and 
 divers slain on both sides. 
 
 " Many and divers skirmishes and deeds of arms was daily amongst them and between 
 them. Many noblemen and knights did challenge one another, but in that kind of dealing 
 always those of Ireland won, for no nation was their like, as to fight by the body of a 
 champion. Yet those strangers never gave over their challenge till many of their noble [s] 
 and valiants were destroyed. And then, after they gave that quarrelling over in this pastime, 
 there was all the noblemen that there was his wives and daughters with them, which did 
 banquet those strangers at all times of peace concluded, which was after this order, that when 
 any field was given betwixt them, then they would take a truce for a fortnight, three weeks, 
 or four weeks, as they did agree upon. Many good battles was done for their ladies' sakes, 
 which were long to recite. 
 
 " Amongst all there was a Eoman knight, that was in love with a daughter of the King 
 
 2 G 
 
226 Notes. 
 
 of Olster, which was as fair as nature could endeavour, of the age of 19 years, or thereabouts ; 
 and he offered to break a spear for her sake ; which was answered by her brother to defend 
 her at all assays. At the day and place appointed these two knights met ; and this Roman 
 knight was taken, and in bringing him away — before he had the government and leading of 
 a legion of knights, — which knights seeing their captain taken they put themselves to battle, 
 which perceived the King of Olster, aud prepared to the aid of his son. There began a sore 
 fight upon the sudden, but at length this legion df knights were slain. 
 
 " There was much good sport and pastime for the love of ladies, for, as I hath told 30U 
 afore, when any truce was taken, then the gentlemen of both sides did repair some to one 
 camp and some to another to make good cheer, as though they were brethren and fellows, and 
 when they met after in battle they fought like lions, the soldiers of their own courage aud 
 the gentlemen for their ladies' sake. You shall understand that the strangers also brought 
 their ladies also with them ; so of each side love was not forgotten amongst the gentlemen 
 which caused many a bloody wound, and many a stalworth gentleman did end his transitory 
 life. There was many gentlemen of the strangers for very love promised never to fight 
 against one of Ireland. So this was continued a whole year, sometimes main battles, some- 
 time skirmishes, sometime battles between champions of courage, sometime battles between 
 knights for their ladies' sakes. 
 
 " Thus ended the battle of Fentra, wherein was as many good deeds of war used and 
 done as was at the siege of Troy for one year. For sometime some sang, and after wept ; 
 now woe, now gladness; now mirth, now pain; now light, now dark; now heavy, now 
 merry ; now bitter, now sweet ; now trouble, now free ; Bhowing, to use a manner resem- 
 blance no worldly wealth hath here none assurance. It is strange to tell of this war, that in 
 this time was termed or called to be but the field of Fentra. Truly there was under the 
 colour of this field of Fentra sixteen main battles fought, besides the battles that was private 
 amongst knights and gentlemen for their ladies, which was 151 cruel fights. No marvel ; 
 for the best of all chivalry in Europe was gathered to come to win Ireland, for that they of 
 Ireland was reported, yea, and taken in those days, to be alone and peerless of all nations, 
 which greatly was disdained by all foreign princes and governors." 
 
 It is hardly necessary to say that all about the ladies — which is, in truth, 
 all worth preserving in the story — belongs to the knightly imagination of the 
 Norman inventor. An inquiry of some critical value might be instituted as to 
 how far this fight of the White Strand belongs to a common parentage with the 
 Gododin. This latter seems indifferently written Cattrcth, or the Battle of the 
 Strand, and Gweth Gwaltraes, or the Battle of the White Strand. The oldest 
 MS., however, gives the name in the form Catreith, which the learned editor of 
 the Four Ancient Books of Wales reads as Ca-treith, or the Ca or "Enclosure" 
 Strand ; aud finds the event hi the Strages Gai Campi of the Welsh Annals, 
 
Notes. 227 
 
 and Bellurn Aliathorum of Adomnan, a.d. 596. Considering that intoxication 
 figures as one of the most prominent features of the Gododin, a reasonable 
 suspicion may be entertained that both the Battle of the White Strand of Ventry, 
 and also the Mesca Ulad, or Drunken-hosting of tho Ultonians, are Irish 
 fragments of some older Celtic epic which in Britain h-as shaped itself into the 
 wild chaunt ascribed to Aneurin under the name of the Gododin Poems. 
 
 62. " When to their hands the dying saint confided Patrick's Bell 
 And Oolumb's Gospels." (page 95, line 10.) 
 
 For " Gospels " read " Psalter." I am not aware of sacred objects being 
 used as war-standards elsewhere than among the Irish. They used to march to 
 battle under a crozier, a bell, a copy of the Psalter or of the Gospels, as other 
 nations under their eagles, their ravens, draconic images, and banners. There 
 is something touching in the use of the Cathach or case containing Columb's 
 Psalter, by the Kinel Conail. Before going into action they had it carried round 
 their ranks by a youth pure from sin. The Cathach and the Bell of Patrick 
 both form portions of the collection of antiquities deposited in the Museum of 
 the Royal Irish Academy. For some particulars regarding those objects, see 
 Story of the Irish before the Conquest, ch. vi. 
 
 63. " So light and swift he ran." (page 103, line 4.) 
 That men should lose their reason in the horrors of hand-to-hand fighting 
 seems not incredible ; but the notion of this kind of phrenetic excitement being 
 attended with a loss of material weight, is, so far as I know, peculiar to Celtic 
 tradition. We have it in the legends of both islands : Merlin at Arderidd ; 
 Sweeny in this incident of the battle of Moyra ; another in the battle of Ventry ; 
 and various other instances referred to in the extract following. 
 
228 Notes. 
 
 " One idea which lias had a strong and persistent hold of the Gaelic mind was, that 
 exces9 of mental excitement, especially of the passion of fear, destroyed or counteracted the 
 influence of gravitation. Excessive exaltation of mind arising from religious enthusiasm, 
 whether Christian or Pagan, is alleged to have the same effect. During the times of those 
 epidemics called witchcraft in the middle ages, the trial by water was grounded on the as- 
 sumption that a person demoniacally possessed could not sink ; and the test of scales and 
 weights was also in use, prompted by the same popular conviction. The Irish seem to have 
 confined their belief of the capacity of the human body to receive some influence counteractive 
 of gravitation, to the case of lunatics, especially when the phrensy was induced by fear. Thus, 
 in the battle of Moyrath, Sweeny, the young King of Dalaraidh, who has provoked the curse 
 of an angry ecclesiastic (the Irish conventional source of all exemplary calamities), is visited 
 on the battle-field with an access of terror, which deprives him at once of his senses and of 
 his bodily weight ; and he rises like a leaf or a waif in the air over the heads and helmets 
 of those around him, and so flits rather than in the figurative sense of the word, flies, from 
 the field. The battle of Moyrath is said to have been fought in a.d. 637 ; and certainly the 
 belief may well be accepted as having been, even at that early period, settled in the popular 
 mind : for here, at a.d. 718, in this Chronicle of the Monks of Clonmacnoise, we find the 
 record of a furious battle between the Northern and Southern Hy-Nial, at the hill of Allen, 
 in Kildare, where, together with a great number of kings and chiefs, whose name9 are 
 given, there perished novem volatiles, i.e., gealta — that is, nine volatiles or flying-phrenetics, 
 who, in the words of the old translator, ' flyed in the ayre as if they were winged fowle.' A9 
 usual, the visitation is consequent on the curse of a religious person ; in this case a leper 
 whose cow had been seized by some of the combatants, just as Sweeny in the other tale had 
 which he had been partaker." — (Quarterly Review, April, 1868.) 
 
 The most recent instance of terror giving such an excess of bodily mobility 
 appears to be that of the hapless survivor of one of the combatant factions in 
 the duel of the clans Quhele and Chattan, on the Inch of Perth, who 
 
 Lap the barris, and syne swam ower Tay. 
 One is naturally led to ask, can there be such a body of tradition without some 
 foundation in fact ; and, if so, is it a counteraction or negation of the Newtonian 
 law that we are to admit as a solution ? For further notice of Sweeny see ante 
 5, and post 70. 
 
 64. " Where hurdle-causeways sjmn the mire of Liffey's dusky pool." 
 (page 104, line 10.) 
 The " Cleia " or hurdle-causeway was an early substitute in other places 
 besides Ireland for bridges standing on separate piers with an opening for the 
 
Notts. 229 
 
 river to pass under the roadway. (Du Cange sub voc.) In this rude kind of 
 open weir the water ran through the interstices of the wicker-work which gave a 
 continuous support to the causeway or artificial ford. It is to a work of this 
 kind Dublin owes its ancient name Baile-atha-cliath — the Town of the Ford of 
 Hurdles. The constructor is said to have been a no less distinguished person 
 than the Bard Athairne, who on returning from Leinster with the cattle- 
 tributes exacted on his visitation, took this means of getting his spoil transported 
 across the Liffey into a more friendly territory. Prior to this time, the name 
 had been Dubh-linn, i.e., "Black-Pool;" whence the (d) Eblana of Ptolemy? 
 and Dublin of our own days. 
 
 65. " Belvach, son of Feroar, called the Tall." (page 107, line 4.) 
 Some obscurity overhangs the Dalriadic successions between Selvach and 
 the epoch of Kenneth Mac Alpin. This arises from the loss of several stanzas 
 of the Duan Albanach, the Poem commemorative of the kings of the second or 
 recognized Dalriadic dynasty. It summarizes fifty-two successions, but specifies 
 forty-six individual successors only. Various hiatuses occur in the Latin lists ; 
 and the obscurity, so arising, deepens during the century preceding the accession 
 of Kenneth. Whence he came, or how he came, to restore the power of the 
 Dalriads, which appears to have been, for a time, broken before the ascendency 
 of the Picts, and to place himself, as unquestionably he did, as the head of both 
 nations, must remain matter for speculation, until possibly some lost copy of the 
 Duan may be found, or some other sources of Scottish history be discovered. 
 
 The subject has been treated with infinite care and ingenuity by Mr. Skene 
 in his " Chronicles of the Picts and Scots" ; and the conclusions he arrives at will 
 probably commend themselves to the critical judgment of English writers for a 
 long time to come. He altogether discredits the first Dalriad dynasty, which, in 
 Boece terminates in an expulsion of the Scots back again into Ireland early in the 
 fourth century, about the time of the importation of the relics of Saint Andrew: but, 
 
230 Notes. 
 
 adopting the facts of an expulsion and of the importation of Saint Andrew's relics, 
 he shifts both events, through an arc of four hundred years, to what he considers 
 their true historic places ; identifying the former with the temporary success of 
 the Picts in their straggle with the Dalriads in the century preceding the appear- 
 ance of Kenneth, and the latter with a concomitant incursion of Scottish ecclesi- 
 astics returning to their former haunts in Pictland, in the eighth century. 
 
 In constructing this theory, Mr. Skene is obliged to impute a great amount of 
 fabrication and fraudulent suppression to the Scottish writers of the thirteenth 
 and succeeding centuries. There is a proneness in the critical mind to delight in 
 the detection of supposed historic frauds, which assures a present favourable accep- 
 tance to Mr. Skene's views. But the facts adverted to in the note on the 
 Collas (ante, 59) may warn us that it would be rash to accept these con- 
 clusions while the manuscripts of early Irish story remain to so great an extent 
 unexplored, and while the comparatively small portion as yet accessible furnishes 
 evidence so strongly corroborative of a pre-Ercian occupation of Alba. In any 
 case, however, to Mr. Skene belongs the credit of having restored the Pictish 
 kingdom of the east of Scotland to the place of importance it is now admittedly 
 entitled to, in the early history of Great Britain. 
 
 66. "Would not bare 
 
 The head-top to the tonsuring shears of Ceolfrid, neither count 
 Their Easters by the Roman moons." {page 107, line 8.) 
 
 The expulsion of the Columban clergy from the Pictish districts of Scotland 
 in the eighth century, is a well authenticated event in history. Bede has pre- 
 served the letter written to Nectan, the then Pictish king, by Ceolfrid, of Jarrow, 
 to whom Nectan had applied for instruction touching the proper form of tonsure 
 and time for celebrating Easter, as well as for architects who should be able to 
 build churches in his territory after the Roman or proper ecclesiastical model. 
 Ceolfrid furnishes his royal correspondent with the orthodox arguments in favour 
 
Notes. 231 
 
 of the coronal tonsure and of the celebration of Easter on the Lord's day next 
 after the full moon happening on, or next ensuing, the 21st March. In these 
 respects the Columban clergy, like their brethren of the old Irish and British 
 churches, were irregular. Their tonsure was from ear to ear, baring the front 
 hemisphere of the head, instead of being in a circle on the top, which is more 
 conformable to the probable position of our Lord's crown of thorns. Their Easter 
 was celebrated in the week beginning on the fourteenth and ending on the 
 twentieth of the moon ; instead of in that beginning on the fifteenth and ending 
 on the twenty-first. This difference may be reasonably accounted for by 
 changes in the mode of computation adopted at Rome, which left those remote 
 regions a day behind the improved time. But no considerations of that kind 
 can account for another discrepancy in their Paschal practice. If the fourteenth 
 of the moon happened to fall on a Sunday, they celebrated their Easter on that 
 day, instead of waiting for the Sunday after, as they ought to have done, had 
 they observed the practice agreed on at the Council of Nice, a.d. 315. This 
 suggests very forcibly that their ecclesiastical system had been in use in these 
 islands before that date. Indeed, some of the old Irish are stated to have 
 held their Easter, as the Jews did, on the fourteenth of the moon, whether it 
 happened to be a Sunday or not, in this respect continuing the practice of Saint 
 John, and throwing us back for Irish ecclesiastical origins to a very early ante- 
 Patrician epoch. 
 
 Nectan, failing to bring his clergy to uniformity, banished them, a.d. 717, 
 beyond the " Mount," where they continued to hold out with much obstinacy, 
 until finally persuaded to accept the general rule by Adamnan in the succeeding 
 century. 
 
 67. " Sees the cross-signed pillar-stone, and turns Ms plough away." 
 {page 107, line 22.) 
 
 I learn, with deep regret, and some shame for my countrymen of the North, 
 that this memorial exists no longer. It has been destroyed by the tenant. I 
 
232 Notes. 
 
 saw it, and was touched by the common humanity that had respected it through 
 so many ages, when I walked over the battle-field, accompanied by the late Mr. 
 John Rogan, the local antiquary of Moira, in 1842. A letter from Mr. Rogan to 
 O'Donovan, giving the details of the then existing traditions, is referred to in a 
 note by the latter to his volume of Topographical Poems, edited for the Irish 
 Archaeological Society. It probably exists amongst O'Donovan's MSS., and 
 would be a record of interest if now published. 
 
 68. " The Welshmen clapped applauding hands." (page 118, line 12.) 
 
 I have here unconsciously used the language of a much greater master of 
 English. Walter S. Landor has the expression " clapped applauding hands " in 
 an ode on the historical yacht-race in which the Yankee schooner for the first 
 time bore off the prize in British waters. The national generosity accepts the 
 triumph of the stranger ; and as the America glides ahead, you seem to hear the 
 clapping of hands all along the shores of the Solent, which no other combination 
 of English words could convey so musically. 
 
 69. " Upon Caenfalla Olliolson, a doctor even then 
 
 Accounted wiser than the most of Brill's learned men." (page 124, line 5.) 
 
 The story of Caenfalla acquiring all the learning of his period, while lodged 
 with the physician whose house, at the meeting of four roads, adjoined the 
 schools of four Sages in Law, Poetry, History and Belles Lettres, may be counted 
 among the most curious pieces in Academic as well as Medical Annals. To him 
 is ascribed the Uraicept or Primer of the Bards, a copious and rather diffuse 
 treatise on Grammar, which, if it be his, does not tend to raise much our esti- 
 mate of the acquirements of the learned men of his day. 
 
 The Celtic races seem to have been distinguished by a peculiar veneration 
 for scholastic pursuits. The Irish story commences with their great ancestor 
 keeping school in the plain of Shinar ; and their Tuath de Danann leaders are 
 the Professors who, in Gothia, taught at the cities of Falias, Murias, and 
 
Notes. 233 
 
 Gorias. There is something to the same purport in the early history of Spain. 
 " The great glory (of the Spanish nation)," says Sota (cited hy R. R. Madden, 
 And. Lit. Travels and Voyages, p. 30) in his Chron. de y Cantab, (Madrid, 
 1681,p.l60,) "is that at the commencement of its establishment, and foundation 
 by Tubal and his family, the sciences so flourished, and with universal fame, that 
 princes came from all regions of the globe to be instructed in them." 
 
 We find the same characteristic in early British history. Polydore Virgil 
 preserves the old idea that Cambridge first became a seat of learning in the days 
 of Gurguntins and Partholan. 
 
 70. "And bellowing creatures of the glade, for comrades of my way." 
 (page 144, line 1.) 
 
 The story of Sweeny's flight and subsequent wanderings as a Geilt, or wild 
 man of the woods, seems to be formed on the model of some lost original of 
 which the adventures of Merlin Wilt, the insane prophet who went mad from 
 the horrors of the battle of Arderidd in the previous century, may be an 
 earlier adaptation. The cause of Sweeny's disgrace and punishment is made, 
 in the Irish legend, to be, as usual, an offence committed against an ecclesiastic. 
 Saint Ronan is engaged in constructing a church, without permission, in 
 Sweeny's territory. Sweeny rudely interrupts the work, and casts his javelin 
 at the bell in the hands of the saint. The shaft of the javelin springs into 
 the air, rebounding from the bell which is unharmed. " Then the holy cleric 
 prayed ' as high as the shaft of thy javelin, &c, mayest thou thyself be raised 
 in air,"' &c, &c. As told in the Oath Muighe Rath, his fault consists in 
 slaying an ecclesiastical student just before the battle. These features so 
 uniformly present, and so little pleasing in themselves, are the natural conse- 
 quences of the work of legend -writing having been exclusively confined to clerical 
 hands. Where the composer gets out of the conventionalities of the Scrinium, and 
 weaves into his composition anything that has taken its form from the popular 
 imagination, such as the fragments of verse which we constantly find in these 
 
 2 11 
 
234 JVotes. 
 
 tales, we generally obtain something worth preserving, either as recording facts 
 or breathing natural poetic sentiment. Thus in the Irish tale called the Buile 
 Suibhne, or " Mad-Freaks of Sweeny," a lay, sung by the light-headed wanderer 
 to his companions, the trees, the birds, and wild creatures of the forest, may 
 compare for freshness and tender natural sensibility with most things in popular 
 romance. 
 
 He begins by addressing the stag — 
 
 Homed one that bellowest down thro' the dale, 
 Sweet to me your routing roar borne upon the gale ; 
 Home-sweet the melody where'er my path may lie, 
 Below in meadows wandering, or up on mountains high. 
 
 Then he addresses the several trees of the forest — oak, hazel, alder, brown- 
 thorn, birch — " the light-flashing watercresses on the brink of the full well" — 
 elm, holly, ivy, with gracefully appropriate epithets for each, and exclaims — 
 
 But full of creatures beautiful, green, leafy though ye be, 
 I wander mongst you, oh ye woods, in endless misery 1 
 
 A few couplets of the original may be worth transcribing as indicating the 
 harmony of the verse, and untranslateable force of the epithets — 
 
 A bhennain, a bhuiredhain, a bheicadhain bhind ; 
 
 As binn Horn a chuicheran do ni tu san glind : 
 
 Eolchaire mo mendatain do rala ar mo cheill, 
 
 Na sios isin machaire no huas isin t'sleiph. 
 
 A dhair, dhosach, dhuilledach, at ard os cionn croinn ; 
 
 A chollain a chrabhachach achamhra cno cuille, &c. 
 
 It is difficult to believe in the total savagery of a people amongst whom 
 compositions so sweet and poetical were current. Their presence in all the old 
 
Notes. . 235 
 
 literature of the Irish (notwithstanding the vulgar taste of their setting) seems 
 completely to negative that conceit of the authpr of Cosmos that the poetic 
 sentiment, as associated with the external forms of nature, did not exist in the 
 West of Europe until the Celts had learned it from the humanizing compositions 
 of the ecclesiastics. On the contrary, whatever we have of such a strain of 
 sentiment in old Irish literature seems to be the lay gift, while the things of 
 less beauty and more childish application come too often from the men of 
 learning. 
 
 Geofiry of Monmouth, or whoever he was who wrote the " Vita Merlini," 
 obviously had a British romance comprising the essential features of the Buile 
 Suibhne before him, when describing the woodland life of his hero : — 
 
 Et fugit ad-sylvas, nee vult fugiendo videri, 
 Ingrediturque nemus, gaudet latere sub ornos, 
 Miraturque feras pascentes gramina saltus. 
 
 Only, it is the wolf, not the stag, he addresses — 
 
 Tu lupe ! care comes, nemorum qui devia mecum 
 Et saltus peragrare soles — 
 
 and they are the birds, not the trees, of the forest, of which he gives an enume- 
 ration. In the " Vita," however, the particular feature of a fright in the battle 
 having induced the prophet's insanity is wanting. But it has been preserved by 
 the author of the " Pplychronicon " : — 
 
 Silvestris dictus ideo, 
 Quod consistens in prselio 
 Monstrum videns in aere 
 Mento csepit excedere, 
 Ad sylvam tendehs propere. 
 
236 Notes. 
 
 In the old version — 
 
 And haet [hight] Siluestris as wel ; 
 For whan he was in a batel, 
 And sawe aboue a grislich'e Kynde 
 [He] fil anon out. of his mynde ; 
 And made no more abood 
 But ran to the wood. — 
 
 So, in the original, Sweeny is terrified by the sight of " huge, flickering aerial 
 phantoms " in the air " in dense, rustling, clamorous, left-turning hordes — con- 
 stantly in motion, shrieking and howling " above the combatants.^— (Goth Muighe 
 Bath, 230.) 
 
 THE END.