Chapter 20

[1]There is an almost complete copy of this saga in the Leabhar na h-Uidhre. Like the Táin Bo Chuailgne, it has never been published in a translation. The language is much harder and more archaic than that of the Táin. I have principally drawn upon O'Curry's description of it, for I can only guess at the meaning of a great part of the original. Were all Europe searched the scholars who could give an adequate translation of it might be counted on the fingers of both hands—if not of one.

[2]According to the "Four Masters" he was slain in AM. 5161 [i.e., 43 B.C.], after a reign of seventy years. "It was in the reign of Conairè," the "Four Masters" add, "that the Boyne annually cast its produce ashore at Inver Colpa. Great abundance of nuts were annually found upon the Boyne and the Buais. The cattle were without keeping in Ireland in his reign on account of the greatness of the peace and concord. His reign was not thunder-producing nor stormy. It was little but the trees bent under the greatness of their fruit." It is from Conairè the Ernaan tribes were descended. They were driven by the Rudricians,i.e., the Ultonians of the Red Branch, into Munster, and from thence they were driven by the race of Eber [the Mac Carthys, etc. of Munster], into the western islands.

[3]It appears to have been partly in order to check raids like this, that the High-kings maintained the Fenians a couple of centuries later, for their chief duty was "to watch the harbours."

[4]A constant rendezvous for pedestrians and bicyclists from Dublin, not one in ten thousand of whom knows the origin of the name or its history.

[5]For a description of another of these courtsseeabove p.355.

[6]Here is the original as given by O'Curry, "Manners and Customs," vol. iii. p. 141. This will show the exceeding difficulty of the language: "Atcondarc and imdae acas bacáimiu acomthach oldáta imdada in tigi olchena. Seolbrat nairgdidi impe acas cumtaige isin dimdae. Atcondarc triar ninni," etc.

[7]Keating says that according to some Conairè reigned only 30 years.

[8]The allusion appears to be to a bright steel sword in an age of bronze. Perhaps the music referred to means the vibration of the steel when struck. The "Sword of light" is a common feature in Gaelic folk-lore. Of course iron was common in Ireland centuries before this time, but the primitive description ofSword of light, transmitted itself from age to age.

[9]"Cleasamhnach," fromcleas, "a trick," a living word still.

[10]Seeabove p.236.

[11]Broccan's poem in the Book of Leinster translated by O'Neill Russell, in an American periodical.

[12]Translated by Standish Hayes O'Grady in "Silva Gadelica," whose vigorous rendering I have closely followed.

[13]"Is mochean in maiten bánNo taed for lár, mar lasán,Is mochean do'n té rusfóiIn maiten buadach bithnói"

[14]Compare the legend of the wren's having betrayed the Irish to the English, whence the universal pursuit of him made by boys on St. Stephen's day.

[15]Ceallach himself.

[16]For him,seeabove, p.25.

[17]Some account of this saga is given in O'Curry's MS. Materials, p. 256, and by Keating, p. 253, of O'Mahony's translation. The entire saga is preserved in the Yellow Book of Lecan. My friend, the late Father James Keegan, made me a translation of another version, which he afterwards published in a St. Louis paper.

[18]Translated and edited by Standish Hayes O'Grady, p. 269 of his "Silva Gadelica."

[19]Only one copy of this tale was known to O'Curry in 205, Hodges and Smith, R. I. A.

[20]Edited without a translation by Windisch, in his "Irische Texte," i. p. 117, and referred to at length by O'Curry, "Manners and Customs," vol. ii. pp. 192-4; and summarised and examined by Alfred Nutt, in his "Voyage of Bran."Seefor this saga, p.102, above.

[21]This was Macha who pronounced the curse on the Ultonians.Seeabove, ch. XXIV note3. The story is preserved in the Harleian MS. 5280, British Museum.

[22]There is a long extract from this battle given by O'Curry in his "Manners and Customs," vol. ii. pp. 261-3.

[23]Preserved in the Leabhar na h-Uidhre.SeeO'Curry, " Manners and Customs," vol. iii. p. 254. There is a full copy in H. 3. 18, T. C., D.

[24]In H. 3. 18, T. C., D.Seeabove, p.27.

[25]Edited from the Leabhar na h-Uidhre by O'Beirne Crowe, in the "Journal of the Royal Irish Historical and Archæological Association, 1870," and by Standish Hayes O'Grady, "Silva Gadelica," p. 265.

[26]SeeO'Curry, "Manners and Customs," vol. ii. p. 205. I think Kuno Meyer has translated this saga somewhere.Seep.40.

[27]Published by O'Curry for the Celtic Society as an appendage to the Battle of Moy Léana.Seeabove, p.368.

[28]Translated by O'Grady, "Silva Gadelica," p. 385, and studied at length by Alfred Nutt, in his "Voyage of Bran," vol. i. p. 201.

[29]SeeO'Curry's "Manners and Customs," vol. ii. p. 212, and MS. Materials p. 271. This saga is contained at length in the Book of Lismore.

[30]Translated in O'Grady's "Silva Gadelica," p. 368.Ibid., p. 373.

[31]Ibid.,p. 373.

[32]This is one of the tales in the Book of Leinster list. Modern versions are common.

[33]Seeabove, ch. XVIII, note6, translated in "Silva Gadelica," p. 70.

[34]Ibid., p. 76.

[35]Ibid., p. 88.

[36]A short tale, translated in "Silva Gadelica," p. 91.

[37]Translated in the "Revue Celtique."

[38]Published by Professor Connellan for the Ossianic Society in 1860, vol. v.

[39]Published by O'Donovan in 1842 for the Irish Archæological Society.

[40]MS. 60, Hodges and Smith, R. I. A.

[41]Published by O'Donovan in 1842 for the Irish Archæological Society.

[42]Edited, with English translation, by Whitley Stokes, in "Revue Celtique," vol. ix., and translated into modern Irish by Father O'Growney in the "Gaelic Journal," vol. iv. p. 85, from the Yellow Book of Lecan.

[43]Edited by Kuno Meyer in "Voyage of Bran," vol. i. p. 58, from the Book of Fermoy. This version seems to have escaped the notice of D'Arbois de Jubainville, who says in his "Essai d'un Catalogue," "Cette pièce parait perdue." I have in my own possession a copy in a MS. written by a scribe named O'Mahon in the last century, which is at least twice as long as that published by Kuno Meyer.

[44]The story of an Irish Hippolytus, whose death at his father's hands is compassed by his step-mother,spretæ injuria formæ. O'Curry mentions this tale, MS. Materials, p. 277. It is one of the stories in the catalogue of the Book of Leinster, under the head of Tragedies. Another Hippolytus story is that of the death of Comgan, son of the King of the Decies, quoted by O'Curry, "Manners and Customs," vol. ii. p. 204, but I do not know from what MS.

[45]Translated, but not very literally, by Joyce in his "Early Celtic Romances," and by M. Lot in D'Arbois de Jubainville's "Épopée Celtique," critically edited by Whitley Stokes in the "Revue Celtique," t. ix. p. 446, and x. pp. 50-95.

The sagas and historic tales, and the poetry that is mingled with them, are of far greater importance from a purely literary point of view than any of the other known productions during the pre-Norman period. Although in almost every instance, I may say, their authorship is unknown, they are of infinitely greater interest than those pieces whose authorship has been carefully preserved. One of the first poets of renown after St. Patrick's time was Eochaidh [Yohy], better known as Dallán Forgaill. It is to him the celebrated "Amra," or elegy on Columcille, whose contemporary he was, is ascribed,[1]and this poem in the Béarla Feni, or Fenian dialect, has come down to us so heavily annotated that the text preserved is the oldest miscellaneous manuscript we have, the Leabhar na h-Uidhre, is almost smothered in glosses and explanations, and indeed would be perfectly unintelligible without them. The gloss and commentary is really far more interesting than the poem, which indeed, considering the fame of Dallán,is very disappointing; but no doubt it derived half its importance from being in the Fenian dialect, and hence incomprehensible to the ordinary reader. "He wrote," says the learned Colgan, who published at Louvain the lives of the saints which O'Clery collected for him at the beginning of the seventeenth century, "in the native speech, and in ancient style, several little works which cannot in later ages be easily penetrated by many otherwise well versed in the old native idiom and antiquity, and hence they are illustrated by our more learned antiquaries with scattered commentaries, and as rare monuments of our ancient language and antiquity it is customary to lecture on them and expound them in the schools of antiquaries of our nation. Among these is one panegyric or poem always held in great esteem on the praises of St. Colomb, and entitled 'Amra Choluim cille,'" etc. Colgan adds in a note, "I have in my possession one copy of this work, but putting aside a few scattered commentaries which it contains, it is penetrable to-day to only a few, and these the most learned."

This obscure poem is not, so far as I can see, composed in any metre or rhythm. It, with its gloss, is divided into seven chapters and an introduction. Here is the comment on the first wordsDia, Dia,which will show better than anything that could be written, the very high state of independent development which the Irish poets had early attained in the technique of their art. We must remember that the manuscript in which we find this was copied about the year 1100, and the commentary may be much older. Irish is indeed the only vernacular language of western Europe where poetic technique had reached so high a perfection in the eleventh century. Fully to see the significance of this one must remember that the English language had not at this time even begun to emerge. Compare this highly-developed critical commentary with anything of the same age that Germany, France, or Italy has to show.

"Dia, Dia,[2]God, God, etc.," says the commentator, "it is why he doubles the first word on account of the rapidity[3]and avidity of the praising, asDeus, Deus meus,etc. But the name of that with the Gael is 'Return-to-a-usual-sound,' for there be three similar standards of expression with the poets of the Gaels, that isre-return to a usual sound, andrenarration modeandreduplication, and this is the mark of each of them. Thereturnindeed is a doubling of one word in one place in the round, without adhering to it from that forth. Therenarrationmode again is renarrating from a like mode; that means the one word—to say it frequently in the round, with an intervention of other words between them, as this—"'Came the foam which the plain filters,[4]Came the ox through fifty warriors;So came the keen active ladWhom brown Cu Dinisc left.'""But 'reduplication' is, namely 'refolding,' that is 'bi-geminating,' as this—"I fear fear / after long long /Pains strong strong / without peace peace /Like each each / until doom doom /For gloom gloom / will not cease cease."[5]"There are two divisions of these in this fore-speech [to the Amra]; that is, we have the 'Return-to-a-usual-sound' and the 'renarration-mode,' but in the body of the hymn we have the 'renarration-mode' only."

"'Came the foam which the plain filters,[4]Came the ox through fifty warriors;So came the keen active ladWhom brown Cu Dinisc left.'"

"But 'reduplication' is, namely 'refolding,' that is 'bi-geminating,' as this—

"I fear fear / after long long /Pains strong strong / without peace peace /Like each each / until doom doom /For gloom gloom / will not cease cease."[5]

"There are two divisions of these in this fore-speech [to the Amra]; that is, we have the 'Return-to-a-usual-sound' and the 'renarration-mode,' but in the body of the hymn we have the 'renarration-mode' only."

Here is another passage which will show the difficulty that was found so early as the eleventh century in explaining this Fenian dialect.

"IT IS A HARP WITHOUT Aceis, it is a church without an abbot—i.e., ceisis a name for a small harp which is used as an accompaniment to a large harp in co-playing; or it is a name for the small pin which holds the cord in the wood of the harp; or for the tacklings, or for the heavy cord. Or theceisin the harp is what holds the side part with its chords in it, as the poet said—it was Ros[6]mac Find who sang it, or Ferceirtné[7]the poet,"'The base-chord concealed not music from the harp of Crabtene,Until it dropped sleep-deaths upon hosts.* * * * *Sweeter than any music, the harpWhich delighted Labhraidh [Lowry] Lorc the Mariner,Though sullen about his secrets was the King,Theceis, or base-chord of Craftiné concealed it not.'"

"'The base-chord concealed not music from the harp of Crabtene,Until it dropped sleep-deaths upon hosts.* * * * *Sweeter than any music, the harpWhich delighted Labhraidh [Lowry] Lorc the Mariner,Though sullen about his secrets was the King,Theceis, or base-chord of Craftiné concealed it not.'"

This poem is an allusion to the sagas which grouped themselves round the sons of Ugony the great and Lowry the Mariner, who reigned about 530 years B.C.

In another place he quotes a poem of Finn mac Cúmhail's.

"'AND SEA-COURSE'—i.e., he was skilful in the art ofrenis[8]that is 'of the sea,' or it may berianthat would be right in it, as Finn, grandson of Baoisgne [Bweesgna] said—"'A tale I have for you. Ox murmurs,Winter roars, summer is gone.Wind high cold, sun low,Cry is attacking, sea resounding.Very red raying has concealed form.Voice of geese [Barnacles] has become usual,Cold has caught the wings of birds,Ice-frost time; wretched, very wretched.[9]A tale I have for you.'"

"'AND SEA-COURSE'—i.e., he was skilful in the art ofrenis[8]that is 'of the sea,' or it may berianthat would be right in it, as Finn, grandson of Baoisgne [Bweesgna] said—

"'A tale I have for you. Ox murmurs,Winter roars, summer is gone.Wind high cold, sun low,Cry is attacking, sea resounding.Very red raying has concealed form.Voice of geese [Barnacles] has become usual,Cold has caught the wings of birds,Ice-frost time; wretched, very wretched.[9]A tale I have for you.'"

Another verse quoted alludes to the chess-board of Crimhthann Nianáir, who came to the throne eleven years before the birth of Christ.[10]

"FECHT AFOR NIA NEM—i.e., the time when the champion would come, that is Columcille, forniameans a champion, as is said—"'The chessboard of Crimhthann, brave champion,A small child carries it not on his arm (?)Half of its chessmen are of yellow gold.The other half of white bronze.One man of its chessmen aloneWould purchase six married couples.'"

"FECHT AFOR NIA NEM—i.e., the time when the champion would come, that is Columcille, forniameans a champion, as is said—

"'The chessboard of Crimhthann, brave champion,A small child carries it not on his arm (?)Half of its chessmen are of yellow gold.The other half of white bronze.One man of its chessmen aloneWould purchase six married couples.'"

The ancient commentator quotes, thirty-five times in all, from various poems, in explanation of his text, including poems ascribed to Columcille himself, and to Gráinne, the daughter of Cormac mac Art, who eloped from Finn mac Cúmhail. He quotes the satire made on Breas in the time of the Tuatha De Danann, and a verse of St. Patrick (some of whose Irish poetry is also quoted by the "Four Masters"), and a poet called Colman mac Lenene, who was first a poet, but afterwards became a saint, and founded the great school of Cloyne.

Dallán wrote two other Amras, one on Senan of Innis Cathaigh, "which," remarks Colgan, "on account of antiqueness of style and gracefulness is amongst those fond of antiquity, always held in great esteem," and another in praise of Conall of Inskeel in Donegal, in one grave with whom he was buried. There has also come down to us in the same inscrutable Fenian dialect a poem of his consisting of eighty-four lines on the shield of Hugh, King of Oriel, which, unlike his Amra, is in perfect rhyme and metre.[11]

It was he who headed the bardic body when they were so nearly banished from the kingdom, and were only saved by the intervention of St. Columcille at the Synod of Drom Ceat [Cat], of which more hereafter. There is a curious specimen of his overbearing truculence in a story preserved in the same manuscript (of about the year 1100) that has preserved his Amra; it is headed "A Story from which it is inferred that Mongan was Finn mac Cúmhail." The poet was stopping with Mongan, King of Ulster.

"Every night the poet would recite a story to Mongan. So great was his lore that they were thus from Halloweve till May-day. He had gifts and food from Mongan. One day Mongan asked his poet what was the death of Fothad Airgdech. Forgoll said he was slain at Duffry in Leinster. Mongan said it was false. The poet [on hearing that] said he would satirise him with his lampoons, and he would satirise his father and his mother and his grandfather, and he would sing [spells] upon their waters, so that fish should not be caught in their river-mouths. He would sing upon their woods so that they should not give fruit, upon their plains so that they should be barren for ever of any produce."Mongan [thereupon] promised him his fill of precious things, so far as [the value of] seven bondmaids, or twice seven bondmaids, or three times seven. At last he offers him one-third, or one-half of his land, or his whole land; at last [everything] save only his own liberty with that of his wife Breóthigernd, unless he were redeemed before the end of three days."The poet refused all except as regards his wife. For the sake of his honour Mongan consented. Thereat his wife was sorrowful, the tear was not taken from her cheek. Mongan told her not to be sorrowful, help would certainly come to them."

"Mongan [thereupon] promised him his fill of precious things, so far as [the value of] seven bondmaids, or twice seven bondmaids, or three times seven. At last he offers him one-third, or one-half of his land, or his whole land; at last [everything] save only his own liberty with that of his wife Breóthigernd, unless he were redeemed before the end of three days.

"The poet refused all except as regards his wife. For the sake of his honour Mongan consented. Thereat his wife was sorrowful, the tear was not taken from her cheek. Mongan told her not to be sorrowful, help would certainly come to them."

Eventually the poet is very dramatically shown to be in the wrong.[12]

Dallán Forgaill was succeeded in the Head Ollamhship of all the Irish bards by his pupil Senchan Torpeist, who was equally overbearing, and whose intolerable insolence is admirably satirised in the story called the "Proceedings of the Great Bardic Association." Only two poems of his have come down to us, one being his elegy on the death of his master Dallán Forgaill.

The next great lay poet of importance seems to have been Cennfaeladh, who died in 678, whose verses are constantly cited by the "Four Masters." He was originally an Ulster warrior who was wounded in the battle of Moyrath, which was fought when Adamnan, Columcille's biographer, was eleven years old, and he was brought to be cured to the house of one Brian in Tuaim Drecain, where there were three schools, one of classics,[13]one of law, and one of poetry. He used to attend—apparently during his convalescence—these various schools, and what he heard in the day he would repeat to himself at night, so that "his brain of forgetfulness was extracted from his head after its having been cloven in the battle of Moyrath." "And he put a clear thread of poetry through them, and wrote them on flags and on tables, and he put them into a vellum book." Hence he became a great lawyer as well as a poet, and a considerable part of the celebrated Brehon Law Book, called the Book of Acaill, is ascribed to him.[14]

Angus Céile Dé[15][Kail-a Day], or the Culdee, is the next poet of note who claims our attention. He flourished about the year 800, and is the author of the well-known Féilĭrè, or Calendar. In this work one stanza inrinn áirdmetre isdevoted to each day of the year, in connection with the name of some saint—an Irish one wherever possible. The Féilĭrè is followed by a poem of five or six hundred lines, which with its glosses and commentaries is probably the most extensive piece of Old Irish poetry that we have. Whitley Stokes, who edited it with great care, considers it to be of the tenth rather than the late eighth or early ninth century. If so, this would leave its authorship doubtful, but it has been shown, I think by Kuno Meyer, that the number of deponental forms contained in it might point to a higher antiquity than that which Whitley Stokes allows. It has certainly been always hitherto accepted as the work of Angus, and as it cannot well, in any case, be more than a century or so later, we may let it stand here, as it has always done, under his name. In the ancient and curious Irish notes and commentary on the Féilĭrè we find a great number of verses quoted from the poet-saints, and these include St. Patrick, St. Ciaran the elder, St. Comgall with St. Columcille his friend, St. Ité the virgin, St. Kevin of Glendaloch, St. Ciaran of Clonmacnois, St. Molaise [Moleesha] of Devenish (who sent Columcille to banishment), St. Mochuda of Lismore, St. Molling, St. Fechin of Forc, St. Aireran of Clonard, Maelruan of Tallaght, Adamnan (Columcille's biographer), and Angus the Culdee himself, a goodly company of priests and poets; but no one seems to have been anything esteemed in ancient Erin unless he either was or was reputed to be a poet! Of true poetic spirit it contains not much, but it is a wonderful example of technical difficulties overcome. The metre is one of the most difficult, a six-syllable one, with dissyllabic endings. The first stanzas, translated into the metre of the original, run as follows:—

"Bless, O Christ, my speaking,King of heavens seven,Strength and wealth and POWERIn this HOUR begiven.Given,[16]O thou brightest,Destined chains to sever,King of Angels GLORIOUS,And victORIOUSever.Evero'er us shining,Light to mortals given,Beaming daily, NIGHTLY,BRIGHTLY out of heaven."

The Saltair na Rann has also been usually ascribed to Angus, but it can hardly be, as Dr. Whitley Stokes has shown, earlier than the year 1000,[17]for it mentions apparently as contemporaries Brian king of Munster, and Dub-da-lethe archbishop of Armagh, appointed in 988. It is a collection of one hundred and sixty-two poems in early Middle Irish containing between eight and nine thousand lines, mostly composed in Deibhidh [D'yevvee] metre. These poems are all of a more or less religious cast, and most of them are based (like the Saxon Caedmon's) on Old Testament history, but they also contain a prodigious deal of curious matter. The opening poem begins—

"Mo rí-se rí nime náir."[18]("My king is the King of noble Heaven.")

It tells of the creation of the world, of the sun, of heaven and earth, light and darkness, day and night, of how the earth separated from the primal material, and was surrounded by the firmament, the world being "like an apple, goodly and round"; then the king created the mists, the current of the cold watery air, the four chief winds, and the eight sub-winds, with their colours, "the white, the clear purple, the blue, the great green, the yellow, the red truly-bold, ... the black, the grey, the speckled (?), the dark (?), the dull-black, the dun-coloured."[19]The poet then discusses the distance from the earth to the firmament, the seven planets, the distance from the earth to the moon, from moon to sun, the windless ethereal heaven, the distance between the firmament and the sun, the motionless Olympus or third heaven, the distance from the firmament to heaven and from the earth to the depths of hell, the five zones, the firmament round the earth, like its shell round an egg, the seventy-two windows of the firmament, with a shutter on each, the seventh heaven revolving like a wheel, with the seven planets from the creation, the signs of the zodiac,[20]the time (30 days 10½ hours) that the sun is in each, the day of the month on which it enters each, the month in which it is in each, the division of the firmament into twelveparts, and the five things which every intelligent man should know—the day of the month, age of the moon, height of the tide, day of the week, and saints' festivals![21]

The attribution of colours to the winds in this poem is curious and appears to be Irish. I have met traces of this fancy even amongst the modern peasantry. There is a strange entry in the Great Brehon Law Book, the Seanchas Mór, which quotes the colours of the winds in the same order.

"The colour of each," says this strange passage, "differs from the other, namely, the white and the crimson, the blue[22]and the green, the yellow and the red, the black and the grey, the speckled and the dark, theciar(dull black) and the grisly. From the east comes the crimson wind, from the south the white, from the north the black, from the west the dun. The red and the yellow winds are produced between the white and the crimson, the green and the grey between the grisly and the white, the grey and theciarbetween the grisly and the jet-black, the dark and the mottled between the black and the crimson. And those are all the sub-winds contained in each and all the cardinal winds."

After thus describing the creation of the world in the first poem, we are introduced in subsequent ones to heaven and the angels, who are named for us, and then shown hell and Lucifer's abode, the description of which, except that it is in verse, reminds us of that given by St. Brendan. Next we are introduced to Adam and Eve, and it is stated that Adam had spent a thousand years in the Garden of Eden. The jealousy of Lucifer is described, and his temptation of Eve, whom he persuades to open the door and let him into the garden. Then he makes her eat the apple, and Adam takes half fromher and eats also. The eleventh poem describes the evil result, and is quite Miltonic and imaginative. It tells us how for a week, after being driven out, Adam and his wife remain without fire, house, drink, food, or clothing. He then begins to lament to Eve over all his lost blessings and admits that he has done wrong. Thereupon Eve asks Adam to kill her, so that God may pity him the more. Adam refuses. He goes forth in his starvation to seek food, and finds nothing but herbs, the food of the lawless beasts. He proposes then to Eve to do penance and adore God in silence, Eve in the Tigris for thirty days, and Adam in the Jordan for forty-seven days, a flagstone under their feet and the water up to their necks. Eve's hair fell dishevelled round her and her eyes were directed to heaven in silent prayer for forgiveness. Then Adam prays the river Jordan "to fast with him against God, with all its many beasts, that pardon may be granted to him." Then the stream ceased to flow, and gathered together every living creature that was in it, and they all supplicate the angelic host to join with them in beseeching God to forgive Adam. They obtain their request, and forgiveness is granted to Adam and to all his seed except the unrighteous. When the devil, however, hears this, he, "like a man in the shape of a white angel," goes to Eve as she stands in the Tigris, and gets her to leave her penance, saying that he had been sent by God. They then go to Adam, who at once recognises the devil, and shows Eve how she has been deceived. Eve falls half dead to the ground and reproaches Lucifer. He, however, defends himself, and repeats to them at length the story of his expulsion from heaven for refusing to worship Adam. He concludes by threatening vengeance on him and his descendants. Adam and his wife then live alone for a year on grass, without fire, house, music, or raiment, drinking water from their palms, and eating green herbs in the shadows of trees and in caverns. Eve brings forth a beautiful boy, who at once proceeds to cut grass for his father, who calls him Cain. Godat last pities Adam and sends Michael to him with various seeds, and Michael teaches him husbandry and the use of animals. Seven years afterwards Eve brings forth Abel. In a vision she sees Cain drinking the blood of Abel.

In this manner, with a free play of the imagination, the writer runs through both Old and New Testaments, down to the denial of Peter and the death of Christ, in 150 poems, to which are appended twelve more, eleven of them in a different and more melodious metre, "rannaigheacht mhór," on the resurrection.

There were a number of other pre-Danish poets, but only occasional pieces of theirs have been preserved. Their obits are often mentioned by the annalists, but the few longer pieces of theirs that have survived to our day being mostly historical or genealogical, and as such devoid of much literary interest, we may neglect them.

[1]Mr. Strachan, however, has lately cast doubts upon its genuineness and ascribes it in its present form to a later date.

[2]I follow here O'Beirne Crowe's imperfect rendering. If he translates some words of this difficult piece inaccurately it does not much matter for my purpose.

[3]Ar abela no ar lainni an molta.This wordAbélfor "quick," "rapid," though neither in O'Reilly's nor Windisch's nor the Scotch Gaelic dictionaries, is a common one in the spoken language of West Connacht. It occurs twice in the "Three Shafts of Death," where it is mistranslated by "awful," but it must be carefully distinguished from M. I.Abdul, Keating'sAdhbhal. The word is not known in Waterford, and my friend the late Mr. Fleming, who was the chief authority in the Royal Irish Academy on the spoken language, and who hailed from that county, was, I believe, unacquainted with it.

[4]This translation is evident nonsense, but I cannot better it. The original is "Ric in sithbe sitlas mag."

[5]Is é immoro adíabul,i.e., afhillind,i.e., doemnad, ut est hoc,i.e.,"Águr águr iar céin chéinBith i péin, phein ni síth síth,Amail cách cách, co bráth bráth,In cech tráth tráth, cid scíth scíth."My translation is in the exact metre of the original, and conveys in English the manner in which the heptasyllabic Irish lines were pronounced, in which, despite of what some continental scholars have advanced, there is, I believe,no alternation of beat or stress at all, and neither trochee nor iambus. O'Beirne Crowe mistranslateságurby "I ask."

[5]Is é immoro adíabul,i.e., afhillind,i.e., doemnad, ut est hoc,i.e.,

"Águr águr iar céin chéinBith i péin, phein ni síth síth,Amail cách cách, co bráth bráth,In cech tráth tráth, cid scíth scíth."

My translation is in the exact metre of the original, and conveys in English the manner in which the heptasyllabic Irish lines were pronounced, in which, despite of what some continental scholars have advanced, there is, I believe,no alternation of beat or stress at all, and neither trochee nor iambus. O'Beirne Crowe mistranslateságurby "I ask."

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