HOW IRISH HANDICRAFTSMEN EXCELLED IN THEIR WORK.
All the chief materials for the work of the various crafts were produced at home. Of wood there was no stint: and there were mines of copper, iron, lead, and possibly of tin, which were worked with intelligence and success.
From the most remote times there were in Ireland professional architects or builders, as there were smiths, poets, historians, physicians, and druids; and we find them mentioned in our earliest literature. There were two main branchesof the builder’s profession:—stone-building and wood-building. An ollave builder was supposed to be master of both.
The most distinguished ollave builder of a district was taken into the direct service of the king, and received from him a good yearly stipend: for which he was to oversee and have properly executed all the king’s building and other structural works. In addition to this he was permitted to exercise his art for the general public for pay: and as he had a great name, and had plenty of time on hands, he usually made a large income.
The three chief metal-workers were theGobha[gow], theCaird, and theSaer. The gobha was a smith—a blacksmith; the caird, a worker in brass, gold, and silver—a brasier, goldsmith, or silversmith; the saer, a carpenter or a mason—a worker in wood or stone.
We have already seen that the ancient Irish were very skilful in metallic art. Metallic compounds were carefully and successfully studied, copper commonly forming one of the ingredients. The most general alloy was Bronze, formed of copper and tin: but brass, a compound of copper and zinc, was also used. There were two kinds of bronze:—red bronze, used for spear-heads,caldrons, etc.; and white bronze, which was much more expensive, and used for ornamental works of art—fine metal-work of all kinds.
The exquisite skill of the ancient Irish brasiers is best proved by the articles they made, of which hundreds are preserved in our museums. The gracefully-shaped spear-heads, which, in point of artistic excellence, are fully equal to any of those found in Greece, Rome, or Egypt, were cast in moulds: and we have not only the spear-heads themselves but many of the moulds, usually of stone. In one glass case in the National Museum there are more than forty moulds for bronze axes, spear-heads, arrow-heads, etc.: some looking as fresh as if they had been in use yesterday. The old cairds were equally accomplished in making articles of hammered bronze, of which the most characteristic and important are the great trumpets (page 87above) and the beautifully-formed caldrons (page 116)—many of admirable workmanship—made of a number of bronze plates, hammered into shape and riveted together.
In old times in Ireland, blacksmiths were held in great estimation; and in the historical and legendary tales, we find smiths entertaining kings, princes, and chiefs, and entertained by them in turn. We know that Vulcan was a Grecian god;and the ancient Irish had their smith-god, Goibniu, the Dedannan, who figures in many of the old romances.
The old Irish smith’s anvil was something like the anvil of the present day, but not quite so large and heavy: it had the usual long snout, and was fixed firmly on a block. There were sledges and hand-hammers, pincers or tongs, and a water-trough. The bellows was very different from the present smith’s bellows: it had two air-chambers of wood and leather lying side by side and communicating with the blowing-pipe. These were worked by a bellows-blower, who stood with his feet on the two upper boards, and pressed them down alternately, by which the two chambers were emptied in turn into the main pipe, so as to keep up a continuous blast. It should be remarked that in private houses they used a different sort of bellows, commonly called a ‘blower,’ which was held in the lap, and worked by turning a handle: this, by means of cog-wheels, caused a number of little fans in the inside to revolve rapidly, and thus to force a current through the pipe.
The fuel used by metal-workers was wood-charcoal. The smith’s furnace was made of moist clay, specially prepared, a sort of fire-clay, which was renewed from time to time whenneeded. This furnace surrounded and confined the fire on four sides, otherwise the light charcoal would be scattered by the blast of the bellows.
There was plenty to do for carpenters and other wood-workers, more indeed than for almost any other tradesmen, as the houses were then nearly all made of wood.
The yew-tree was formerly very abundant. Its wood was highly valued and used in making a great variety of articles: so that working in yew was regarded as one of the most important of trades. It required great skill and much training and practice: for yew is about the hardest and most difficult to work of all our native timber: and the cutting-tools must have been particularly fine in quality. Various domestic vessels were made from it, and it was used for doorposts and lintels and other prominent parts of houses, as well as for the posts, bars, and legs of beds and couches, always carved. Yew-carving accordingly gave much employment. There were also painters and metal-engravers; and here it is just as well to remark once for all, that the various articles of everyday life—hats, curraghs, shoes, book-covers, shields, chariots, leather, and so on, were made by special tradesmen (or women), all with their several suitable tools and instruments. Themakers of vessels of wood, metal, and clay were very numerous, and they were quite as skilful and dexterous as those of the present time. A thousand years ago the Irish coopers were able to make vessels of staves bound with hoops, like our tubs and churns, as water-tight and as serviceable as those made by the best coopers of our day.
The tools used by the various tradesmen are often mentioned in the Brehon Laws, from which we learn that there was as great a variety in Ireland then as there is now: but our limited space will only allow us to barely mention a few. There were saws, axes, hatchets, and hammers of various shapes and sizes; an adze for coopers and shield-makers; compasses for circles; planes both for flat surfaces and for moulding; lathes and potter’s wheels for turning in wood and soft clay; chisels and gouges, awls, and augers. Besides the common whetstone they used a circular grindstone, which was turned on an axis by a cranked handle like those now in use.
Numerous stone structures erected in Christian times, but before the Anglo-Norman invasion, with lime-mortar, still remain all over the country, chiefly primitive churches and round towers. It is only necessary to point to the round towers to show the admirable skill and the delicateperception of gracefulness of outline possessed by the ancient Irish builders. A similar remark might be made regarding many of the ancient churches.
Artificers of all kinds held a good position in society and were taken care of by the Brehon Law. Among the higher classes of craftsmen a builder of oratories or of ships was entitled to the same compensation for any injury inflicted on him in person, honour, or reputation, as the lowest rank of noble: and similar provisions are set forth in the law for craftsmen of a lower grade.
No individual tradesman was permitted to practise till his work had been in the first place examined at a meeting of chiefs and specially qualified ollaves, held either at Croghan or at Emain, where a number of craftsmen candidates always presented themselves. But besides this there was another precautionary regulation. In each district there was a head-craftsman of each trade, designatedsai-re-cérd[see-re-caird],i.e., “sage in handicraft.” He presided over all those of his own craft in the district: and a workman who had passed the test of the examiners in Croghan or Emain had further to obtain the approval and sanction of his own head craftsmanbefore he was permitted to follow his trade in the district. It will be seen from all this that precautions were adopted to secure competency in handicrafts similar to those now adopted in the professions.
Young persons learned trades by apprenticeship, and commonly resided during the term in the houses of their masters. They generally gave a fee: but sometimes they were taught free or—as the law-tract expresses it—“for God’s sake.” When an apprentice paid a fee, the master was responsible for his misdeeds: otherwise not. The apprentice was bound to do all sorts of menial work—digging, reaping, feeding pigs, etc.—for his master, during apprenticeship.
HOW THEY PREPARED AND MADE UP CLOTHING MATERIALS.
The wool was taken from the sheep with a shears having two blades and two handles, much the same as our present hedge-shears. After the shearing the whole work up to the finished cloth was done by women, except fulling, which wasregarded as men’s work. The wool, after shearing, was sorted and scoured to remove the grease, and then carded into soft little rolls ready for spinning. Both wool and flax were spun with the distaff and spindle as in other countries; for the spinning-wheel was not invented till the fifteenth or sixteenth century.
The thread was woven in a hand-loom, nearly always by women in their own homes. Ladies of high rank practised weaving long ornamental scarfs as an accomplishment, which they did by means of a long thin lath—something like our crochet work—as the Greek ladies of old practised weaving ornamental webs. The woollen cloth was fulled or thickened by men who practised fulling as a distinct trade.
Our records show that linen was manufactured in Ireland from the earliest historic times. It was a very common article of dress, and was worked up and dyed in a great variety of forms and colours, and exported besides to foreign nations. So that the manufacture for which Ulster is famous at the present day is merely an energetic development of an industry whose history is lost in the twilight of antiquity.
The flax, after pulling, was tied up in sheaves and dried, after which it was put through variousstages of preparation much like those of the present day. After spinning, the thread was finally wound in balls ready for weaving.
The beautiful illumination of the Book of Kells, the Book of Mac Durnan, and numerous other old manuscripts, proves that the ancient Irish were very skilful in colours: and the art of dyeing was well understood. The dyestuffs were not imported: they were all produced at home, and were considered of great importance.
The people understood how to produce various shades by the mixture of different colours, and were acquainted with the use of mordants for fixing the dyes. One of these mordants, alum, is a native product, and was probably known in very early times. Dyeing was what we now call a cottage industry,i.e., the work was always carried on in the house: as I saw it carried on in the homes of Munster more than half a century ago.
The cloth was dyed by being boiled with the several dyestuffs. The dyestuff for black was a sediment or deposit of an intense black found at the bottom of pools in bogs.
A crimson or bright-red colour was imparted by a plant which required good land, and was cultivated in beds like table-vegetables, requiringgreat care. There were several stages of preparation; but the final dyestuff was a sort of meal or coarse flour of a reddish colour.
The stuff for dyeing blue was obtained from the woad-plant (called in Irishglasheen) after several stages of preparation, till it was made into cakes fit for use. A beautiful purple was produced from a sort of lichen growing on rocks, after careful preparation. A still more splendid purple was obtained from a little shellfish or cockle. This method of obtaining purple was practised also by the ancient Britons or Welsh; and by the same process was produced the celebrated Tyrian purple in still more distant ages.
For sewing, woollen thread was usually employed. Women sewed with a needle furnished with an eye as at present. From an early time needles were made of steel, but in primitive ages of bronze. In those days a steel or bronze needle was difficult to make; so that needles were very expensive: the price of an embroidering needle was an ounce of silver. The old Irish dressmakers were accomplished workers. The sewing on ancient articles of dress found from time to time is generally very neat and uniform: one writer describes the sewing on a fur cape found in a bog as “wonderfully beautiful and regular.”
Embroidery was also practised as a separate art or trade by women. An embroiderer kept for her work, among other materials, thread of various colours, as well as silver thread, and a special needle. The design or pattern to be embroidered was drawn and stamped beforehand, by a designer, on a piece of leather, which the embroiderer placed lying before her and imitated with her needle. This indicates the refinement and carefulness of the old Irish embroiderers. The art of stamping designs on leather, for other purposes as well as for embroidery, was carried to great perfection, as we know from the beautiful specimens of book-covers preserved in our museums.
Ladies of the highest rank practised needlework and embroidery as an accomplishment and recreation. For this purpose they spun ornamental thread, which, as well as needles, they constantly carried about in a little ornamented hand-bag.
The art of tanning leather—generally with oak-bark—was well understood in Ireland. By the process of tanning, the hide was thickened and hardened, as at present. Tanned leather was used for various purposes, one of the principal being as material for shoes; and we know thatcurraghs or wicker-boats were often covered with leather. A jacket of hard, tough, tanned leather was sometimes worn in battle as a protecting corselet.
HOW THE IRISH TRAVELLED ON LAND AND WATER.
That the country was well provided with roads we know from our ancient literature, and from the general use of chariots. They were not indeed anything like our present hard, smooth roads, but constructed according to the knowledge and needs of the period, sometimes laid with wood and stone, sometimes not, but always open and level enough for car and horse traffic. There were five main roads leading from Tara through the country in different directions: and numerous roads—all with distinct names—are mentioned in the annals. Many of the old roads are still traceable: and some are in use at the present day, but so improved to meet modern requirements as to efface all marks of antiquity.
In old times the roads seem to have been very well looked after: and the regulations for makingand cleaning them, and keeping them in repair, are set forth with much detail in the Brehon Laws.
Rivers were usually crossed by bridges, which were made either of planks or of strong wickerwork supported by piles. Where there were no bridges people had to wade or drive across broad shallow fords: or to use a ferryboat if the stream was deep; or as a last resource to swim across.
The higher classes had chariots drawn by horses: usually one horse or a pair: but sometimes there were four. The chariot was commonly open: but some were covered over by an awning or hood of bright-coloured cloth, luxuriously fitted up, and ornamented with gold, silver, and feathers. The body of the chariot was made of wickerwork supported by an outer frame of strong wooden bars: and it was frequently ornamented with tin. The wheels were about four feet high, spoked, and shod round with iron. But no matter how carefully and beautifully it was constructed the Irish chariot, like those of the Greeks, Romans, and other ancient nations, was a springless jolting machine and made a great deal of noise. Two persons commonly rode in a chariot, the master and the charioteer. The general run of people used cars drawn by oxen.
Horses were put to the same uses as at present:—riding, drawing chariots, racing; and more rarely ploughing, drawing carts, and as pack-animals. A bridle with a single rein was used in horse-riding. The rein was attached to a nose-band not at the side but at the top, and came to the hand of the rider over the animal’s forehead, passing right between the eyes and ears, and being held in its place by a loop or ring in the face-band which ran across the horse’s forehead. This single rein was used to restrain merely: it could not be used to guide. No spurs were used: the rider urged on and guided the horse with a rod having a hooked goad at the end. The ancient Irish—like the Britons, Gauls, and Romans—used no saddles: but there was usually a thick cloth between rider and horse. Chariot-drivers sat too far from the horse to make use of a horse-rod; so they used a two-rein bridle like ours.
Those who kept horses for riding were very fond of ornamenting their bridles and trappings with gold, silver, and enamel: so that the bridle alone was often worth from five or six cows up to eighteen or twenty.
The Irish used several kinds of boats, of which the commonest was the curragh, made of wickerwork woven round a frame of strong wattles, andcovered with hides which were stitched together with thongs. Boats of this kind are still used round the coasts, but tarred canvas is employed instead of skins, as being cheaper. Those used on rivers and lakes and on short coast voyages, were small and light and covered with a single skin. But those intended for rough seas and long voyages were made large and strong, with solid wooden decks and seats, and a mast, spars, and sails, so that they could be propelled by oars or sails, or both together. These were covered with two, or with three, hides, one outside another, and the hides were tanned so as to make them thick and hard, much the same as our thick leather. Some of these were large enough to hold fifty or sixty people. It should be remarked that wicker-boats were also used very generally in Britain, and occasionally on the coasts of some parts of the Continent.
The Irish had also ordinary wooden ships with sails and oars, and with sleeping-berths, like our small sailing vessels, and these they often used in very long voyages, either for trade or invasion. But for foreign expeditions their favourite vessel was the strong well-made curragh; and how suitable and safe these curraghs were is indicated by the fact that on one occasion Julius Cæsar ordereda number of them to be made for use in some special expedition. Gildas, a British writer, tells us that whole armies of the Irish were often seen landing on the British shores from curraghs; and an ancient Irish writer says that during a certain military expedition the sea between Ireland and Scotland looked as if covered with a continuous bridge of curraghs.
The people of Ireland carried on considerable trade with England, Scotland, and the Continent. So constant was their communication with the Continent, that, as we are told by a great Roman writer, foreign merchants were, in those early days, better acquainted with the harbours of Ireland than with those of Britain.
The various articles mentioned in our records as brought from foreign lands to Ireland were imported to supplement the home produce; in which there was nothing more remarkable than our present importation of thousands of articles from foreign countries, all or most of which are also produced at home. The articles anciently imported were paid for in home commodities—skins and furs of various animals, wool and woollens, oatmeal, fish, salted hogs, etc.
HOW THE PEOPLE HELD GREAT CONVENTIONS AND FAIRS; AND HOW THEY AMUSED THEMSELVES.
Public assemblies of several kinds and for various purposes were held all through Ireland; they were considered very important, and were looked forward to on the several occasions with great interest. Affairs of various kinds, some affecting the whole kingdom, some the particular province or district, were transacted at these meetings.
The laws were, when necessary, publicly recited to make the people familiar with them. There were councils or courts to consider and settle such matters as the claims of individuals to certain privileges; acts of tyranny by rich and powerful people on their weaker neighbours; disputes about boundaries; levying fines; imposing taxes for the construction and repair of roads; and such like. In fact the functions of these meetings of more than a thousand years ago were in many respects like those of our present county and district councils. In all the assemblies of whatever kind there were markets for the sale and purchase of commodities.
Some meetings were established and convened chiefly for the transaction of serious business: but even at these there were sports and pastimes: in others the main object was the celebration of games: but advantage was taken of the occasions to discuss and settle important affairs, as will be described farther on.
The three great assemblies of Tara, Croghan, and Emain were not meetings for the general mass of the people, but conventions of delegates who represented the kingdoms and sub-kingdoms,i.e., the states in general of all Ireland, and who sat and deliberated under the presidency of the supreme monarch. The wordFéis[faish] was generally applied to these three meetings.
The Féis of Tara, according to the old tradition, was founded by Ollam Fodla [Ollav-Fóla], who was king of Ireland seven or eight centuries before the Christian era. It was originally held every third year, atSamain, i.e., 1st November. The provincial kings, the minor kings and chiefs, and the most distinguished ollaves (doctors) of the learned professions attended. According to some authorities it lasted for a week, i.e.,Samainday with three days before and three days after: but others say a month.
Each provincial king had a separate house forhimself and his retinue during the time; and there was one house for their queens, with private apartments for each, with her attendant ladies. There was still another house calledRélta na bh-filedh[Railtha-na-villa], the “Star of the poets,” for the accommodation of the ollaves, where these learned men held their sittings. Every day the king of Ireland feasted the company in the great Banqueting Hall, which was large enough for a goodly company: for even in its present ruined state it is 759 feet long by 46 feet wide. The results of the deliberations were written in the national record called the Saltair of Tara. The conventions of Emain and Croghan were largely concerned with industrial affairs (seepage 137above).
The Aenach or fair was an assembly of the people of every grade without distinction: it was the most common kind of large public meeting, and its main object was the celebration of games, athletic exercises, sports and pastimes of all kinds. The most important of the Aenachs were those of Tailltenn, Tlachtga, and Ushnagh. The Fair of Tailltenn, now Teltown on the Blackwater, midway between Navan and Kells, was attended by people from the whole of Ireland, as well as from Scotland, and was the most celebrated of allfor its athletic games and sports: corresponding closely with the Olympic, Isthmian, and other games of Greece. It was held yearly on the 1st August, and on the days preceding and following. Marriages formed a special feature of this fair. All this is remembered in tradition to the present day: and the people of the place point out the spot where the marriages were performed, which they call ‘Marriage Hollow.’ The remains of several immense forts are still to be seen at Teltown, even larger than those at Tara, though not in such good preservation.
The meetings at Tlachtga and Ushnagh, which have already been mentioned, seem originally to have been mainly pagan religious celebrations: but there were also games, buying and selling, and conferences on local affairs.
At the Irish fairs, wherever held, all kinds of amusements were carried on; for the people loved games, sports, and fun of every kind. In order to make sure that there should be nothing to spoil sport, there was a very strict law against brawls, quarrelling, or fighting. Anyone who struck a blow or raised any disturbance was sure to be punished: and if it was a very bad case, he was put to death. So if there were any grudges between individuals, or families, or clans, theyhad to be repressed during these meetings. The old Greeks had a law for their games exactly similar, which they called the “Sacred Armistice.”
An Irish fair in those times was a lively and picturesque sight. The people were dressed in their best, and in great variety, for all, both men and women, loved bright colours; and from head to foot every individual wore articles of varied hues. Here you see a tall gentleman walking along with a scarlet cloak flowing loosely over a short jacket of purple, with perhaps a blue trousers and yellow headgear, while the next showed a colour arrangement wholly different; and the women vied with the men in variety of hues.
The people were bright and intelligent and much given to intellectual entertainments and amusements. They loved music and singing, and took delight in listening to poetry, history, and romantic stories; and accordingly, among the entertainments and art performances was the recitation of poems and tales of all the various kinds mentioned atp. 75above, like the recitations of what were called Rhapsodists among the Greeks. For all of these there were sure to be special audiences who listened with delight to the fascinating lore of old times. Music always formeda prominent part of the amusements: and there was no end of harpers, timpanists, pipers, fiddlers, and whistle-players.
In another part of the fair the people gave themselves up to uproarious fun, crowded round showmen, jugglers, and clowns with grotesque masks or painted faces, making hideous distortions, all roaring out their rough jests to the laughing crowd. There were also performers of horsemanship, who delighted their audiences with feats of activity and skill on horseback, such as we see in modern circuses.
In the open spaces round the fair-green there were chariot and horse races, which were sure to draw great multitudes of spectators. Indeed some fairs were held chiefly for races, like those at the Curragh of Kildare, which was as celebrated as a racecourse twelve hundred years ago as it is now.
Special portions of the fair-green were set apart for another very important function—buying and selling. There were markets for stock and horses, for provisions and clothes; and there you might also see foreign merchants from Continental countries, exhibiting their gold and silver articles, their silks and satins, and many strange curiosities: all for sale. Embroidering-women—all natives—showedoff their beautiful designs, and often kept doing their work in presence of the spectators. A special space was assigned for cooking, which must have been on an extensive scale to feed such multitudes.
At length the leaders gave the signal that the aenach was ended; and the people quietly dispersed to their homes.
Hunting was one of the favourite amusements of the Irish. Some wild animals were chased for sport, some for food, and some merely to extirpate them as being noxious; but whatever might be the motive, the chase was always keenly enjoyed. It is indeed quite refreshing to read in some of the tales a description of a hunt and of the immense delight the people took in the sport and all its joyous accompaniments. The hunters led the chase chiefly on foot, with different breeds of hunting-dogs, according to the animals to be chased. The principal kinds of game were deer, wild pigs, badgers, otters, and wolves; and hares and foxes were hunted with beagles for pure amusement. Pig-hunting was a favourite sport. Wolves were hunted down with the great Irish wolf-dogs, some of which were as big as a colt or an ass.
Wild animals were trapped as well as chased. There was an elaborate trap for deer, a deeppitfall with a sharp spear at bottom pointing upwards, all covered over and concealed by abrathlangor light covering of brambles and sods. There was a special trap for each kind of animal—wolf, wild-hog, otter, and so forth. Birds were caught with nets and cribs: and indeed bird-catching was considered of such importance, that it was regulated by a special section of the Brehon Laws called ‘Bird-net laws.’
Fish were caught, as at present, with nets, with spears either single or pronged, and with hook-and-line. Fishing-weirs on rivers were very common. A man who had land adjoining a stream had the right to construct a weir for his own use: but according to law, he could not dam the stream more than one-third across, so that the fish might have freedom to pass up or down to the weirs belonging to others.
Coursing was another amusement, as we find mentioned in our literature. The dogs were pitted against each other; and it was usual to see greyhounds, trained for this special purpose, exhibited for sale in markets, like cows, horses, and sheep.
Hurling or goaling has been a favourite game among the Irish from the earliest ages: played with a ball and acamanor hurley as at present.In the latter part of the last century it declined somewhat in popularity; but now there is a vigorous attempt to revive it. Our modern cricket and hockey are only forms of the old game ofcaman.
In ancient Ireland chess-playing was a favourite pastime among the higher classes. Everywhere in the Tales we read of kings and chiefs amusing themselves with chess, and to be a good player was considered a necessary accomplishment of every man of high position. In every chief’s house there was accordingly at least one set of chess appliances for the use of the family and guests; namely, a chequered chess-board, with chessmen and a bag to hold them, which was often made of woven brass wire.
From the most remote times in Ireland, kings kept fools, jesters, clowns, and jugglers in their courts, for amusement, like kings of England and other countries in much later times. In the Tales we constantly read of such persons and their sayings and doings. They wore funny-looking dresses; and they amused the people something in the same way as the court fools and buffoons of later times—by broad impudent remarks, jests, half witty, half absurd, and odd gestures and grimaces. King Conari’s threejesters were such surpassingly funny fellows that, as we are told in the story of Da Derga, no man could refrain from laughing at them, even though the dead body of his father or mother lay stretched out before him. Professional gleemen—commonly calledcrossans—travelled from place to place earning a livelihood by amusing the people like travelling showmen of the present day.
There were hand-jugglers, who performed wonderful tricks of slight-of-hand. King Conari’s head juggler and his trick of throwing up balls and other small articles, catching them one by one as they came down, and throwing them up again, are well described in the old tale of Da Derga:—“He had clasps of gold in his ears; and wore a speckled white cloak. He had nine [short] swords, nine [small] silvery shields, and nine balls of gold. [Taking up a certain number of them] he flung them up one by one, and not one of them does he let fall to the ground, and there is but one of them at any one time in his hand. Like the buzzing-whirl of bees on a beautiful day was their motion in passing one another.”
HOW THE CHARACTER OF THE OLD IRISH PEOPLE SHOWED ITSELF IN VARIOUS CIRCUMSTANCES AND ON VARIOUS OCCASIONS.
Some of the modes of salutation and of showing respect practised by the ancient Irish indicate much gentleness and refinement of feeling. When a distinguished visitor arrived it was usual to stand up as a mark of respect. Giving a kiss, or more generally three kisses, on the cheek, was a very usual form of respectful and affectionate salutation: it was indeed the most general of all. When St. Columba approached the assembly at Drum-ketta, “King Domnall rose immediately before him, and bade him welcome, and kissed his cheek, and set him down in his own place.”
A very pleasing way of showing respect and affection, which we often find noticed, was laying the head gently on the person’s bosom. When Erc, King Concobar’s grandson, came to him, “he placed his head on the breast of his grandfather.” Sometimes persons bent the head and went on one knee to salute a superior.
Although there were no such institutions in ancient Ireland as pawn-offices, pledging articles as security for a temporary loan and its interest, was common enough. The practice was such a general feature of society that the Brehon Law stepped in to prevent abuses, just as our law now contains provisions to safeguard poor people from being wronged in their dealings with pawn-offices. A person might pledge any movable article—a horse, a brooch, a mantle, etc.—and the person holding the pledge might put it to its proper use while it remained with him. He was obliged to return it on receiving a day’s notice, provided the borrower tendered the sum borrowed, with its interest: and if he failed to do so he was liable to fine. Borrowing or lending, on pledge, was a very common transaction among neighbours; and it was not looked upon as in any sense a thing to be ashamed of, as pawning articles is at the present day.
There were distinct terms for all the parts of these transactions—a loan for kindness merely, a loan for interest, a loan in general: and interest was designated by two distinct words. The existence in ancient Ireland of the practice of pledging and lending for interest, the designation of the several functions by different terms, and the recognitionof all by the Brehon Law, may be classed, among numerous other customs and institutions noticed throughout this book, as indicating a very advanced stage of civilisation. At what an early period this stage—of lending for interest—was reached may be seen from the fact that it is mentioned in an Irish gloss of twelve hundred years ago.
Old age was greatly honoured, and provision was made for the maintenance of old persons who were not able to support themselves. As to old persons who had no means, the duty of maintaining them fell of course on the children; and a son or daughter who was able to support parents but who evaded the duty was punished. If an old person who had no children became destitute the tribe was bound to take care of him. A usual plan was to send him (or her) to live with some family willing to undertake the duty, who had an allowance from the tribe for the cost of support.
In some cases destitute persons dependent on the tribe, who did not choose to live with a strange family, but preferred to have their own little house, received what we now call outdoor relief. There was a special officer whose business it was to look after them: or, in the words of the law tract, to “oversee the wretched and the poor,” andmake sure that they received the proper allowance: like the relieving officer of our present poor laws. He was paid for this duty; and the law specially warned him not to take offence at the abuse he was likely to receive from the poor cross peevish old people he had in charge.
Care was taken that the separate little house in which a destitute old person lived should be a fit and proper one; and its dimensions and furniture, as well as the dimensions of the little kitchen-garden, are set forth in the law. The law also specifies three items of maintenance—food, milk, and attendance; and it adds that the old person was to have a bath at regular intervals, and his head was to be washed every Saturday.
From the arrangements here described it will be seen that there was a kindly spirit in the provisions for old age and destitution, and that the most important features of our modern poor-laws were anticipated in Ireland a thousand years ago.
“A thing of beauty is a joy for ever.” So says the English poet, Keats, in his poem of Endymion, and he enumerates various natural features and artificial creations as things of beauty; among many others, the sun, the moon, “trees old and new,” clear rills, “the mid-forest brake,” “alllovely tales that we have heard or read.” If he had been in Ireland in old times, he would have come across delightful proofs of the truth of his saying everywhere among the people. They loved and had an intense appreciation of all things of beauty, whether natural or artificial; and they were remarkable for their close observation of the natural features of the world around them.
We know all this from their poetry, their tales, and their writings in general, which strongly reflect this pleasing aspect of their character. Everywhere we meet with passages in which are noticed, with loving admiration, not only those features mentioned by Keats, but many others, such as the boom and clash of the waves, the cry of the sea-birds, the murmur of the wind among the trees, the howling of the storm, the sad desolation of the landscape in winter, the ever-varying beauty of Irish clouds, the cry of the hounds in full career among the glens, the beauty of the native music, tender, sad, or joyous, and so forth in endless variety.
The few examples that follow here, as the reader will at once perceive, exhibit vividly this very fine and very attractive characteristic.
The singing of birds had a special charm for the old Irish people. Comgan, a poet of the seventhcentury, standing on the great rath of Knockgraffon in Tipperary—one of the old Munster royal residences—which was in his time surrounded with woods, uttered the following verse:—
“This great rath on which I standWherein is a little well with a bright silver drinking-cup:Sweet was the voice of the wood of blackbirdsRound this rath of King Fiacha.”
Among the examples of metre given in an old Irish treatise on prosody is the following verse, selected merely for a grammatical purpose:—
“The bird that calls within the sallow-tree,Beautiful his beak and clear his voice;The tip of the bill of the glossy jet-black bird is a lovely yellow;The note that the merle warbles is a trilling lay.”
It would be hard to find a more striking or a prettier conception of the power of music in the shape of a bird-song, than the account of Queen Blanid’s three cows with their three little birds which used to sing to them during milking. These cows were always milked into a caldron, but submitted reluctantly and gave little milk till the birds came to their usual perch—on the cows’ ears—and sang for them: then they gave their milk freely till the caldron was filled. This corresponds with the effect of the milking-songs described atp. 89. (See also for bird-songs,p. 83.)
Many students of our ancient literature have noticed these characteristics of the old Irish and their writings. “Another poem,” writes Mr. Alfred Nutt, “strikes a note which remains dominant throughout the entire range of Ossianic Literature: the note of keen and vivid feeling for certain natural conditions. It is a brief description of winter:—
“A tale here for you: oxen lowing: winter snowing: summer passed away: wind from the north, high and cold: low the sun and short his course: wildly tossing the wave of the sea. The fern burns deep red. Men wrap themselves closely: the wild goose raises her wonted cry: cold seizes the wing of the bird: ’tis the season of ice: sad my tale.”
In a certain plain, simple prose narrative in one of our old books, where there is not the least effort at fine writing, it is related how, in the noon of a summer day, a little child fell over a cliff into the sea. The mother ran down shrieking expecting he was dashed to pieces: but she found him quite safe “sitting in the trough of the sea”—to quote the lovely words of the old writer—“playing with the waves. For the waves would reach up to him and laugh round him; and he was laughing at the waves, and putting the palm of his hand to the foam of the crest, and he used to lick it like the foam of new milk.”
In the Life of St. Columkille it is stated that, while residing in Iona, he wrote a poem in Irish, a tender reminiscence of his beloved native land, in which he expresses himself in this manner:—
St. Columkille’s Remembrance of Erin.“How delightful to be on Ben-Edar before embarking on the foam-white sea; how pleasant to row one’s little curragh round it, to look upward at its bare steep border, and to hear the waves dashing against its rocky cliffs.“A grey eye looks back towards Erin; a grey eye full of tears.“While I traverse Alban of the ravens, I think on my little oak grove in Derry. If the tributes and the riches of Alban were mine, from the centre to the uttermost borders, I would prefer to them all one little house in Derry. The reason I love Derry is for its quietness, for its purity, for its crowds of white angels.“How sweet it is to think of Durrow: how delightful would it be to hear the music of the breeze rustling through its groves.“Plentiful is the fruit in the Western Island—beloved Erin of many waterfalls: plentiful her noble groves of oak. Many are her kings and princes; sweet-voiced her clerics; her birds warble joyously in the woods: gentle are her youths; wise her seniors; comely and graceful her women, of spotless virtue; illustrious her men, of noble aspect.“There is a grey eye that fills with tears when it looks back towards Erin. While I stand on the oaken deck of my bark I stretch my vision westwards over the briny sea towards Erin.”
St. Columkille’s Remembrance of Erin.
“How delightful to be on Ben-Edar before embarking on the foam-white sea; how pleasant to row one’s little curragh round it, to look upward at its bare steep border, and to hear the waves dashing against its rocky cliffs.
“A grey eye looks back towards Erin; a grey eye full of tears.
“While I traverse Alban of the ravens, I think on my little oak grove in Derry. If the tributes and the riches of Alban were mine, from the centre to the uttermost borders, I would prefer to them all one little house in Derry. The reason I love Derry is for its quietness, for its purity, for its crowds of white angels.
“How sweet it is to think of Durrow: how delightful would it be to hear the music of the breeze rustling through its groves.
“Plentiful is the fruit in the Western Island—beloved Erin of many waterfalls: plentiful her noble groves of oak. Many are her kings and princes; sweet-voiced her clerics; her birds warble joyously in the woods: gentle are her youths; wise her seniors; comely and graceful her women, of spotless virtue; illustrious her men, of noble aspect.
“There is a grey eye that fills with tears when it looks back towards Erin. While I stand on the oaken deck of my bark I stretch my vision westwards over the briny sea towards Erin.”
Even the place-names scattered over the country—names that remain in hundreds to this day—bear testimony to this pleasing feature of the Irish character: for we have numerous places still calledby names with such significations as “delightful wood,” “silvery stream,” “cluster of nuts” (for a hazel wood), “prattling rivulet,” “crystal well,” “the recess of the bird-warbling,” “melodious little hill,” “the fragrant bush-cluster,” and so forth in endless variety.[7]
There is a very old legend that Ailill Inbanna, king of Connaught in the sixth century, earned heaven by his noble self-sacrifice in order to save his people. A bitter war was waged between him and the two princes Donall and Fergus, sons of the king of Ireland, till at last a decisive battle was fought between them at a place called Cúil-Conari, in the present county Mayo, in which Ailill was defeated. And at the end of the day, when he and his army were in full retreat, the king, sitting in his chariot in the midst of the flying multitude, said to his charioteer:—“Cast thine eyes back, I pray thee, and tell me if there is much killing of my people, and if the slayers are near us.” The charioteer did so, and said:—“The slaughter that is made on thy people is intolerable.” Then said the king:—“Not theirown guilt, but my pride and unrighteousness it is that they are suffering for. Turn now the chariot and let me face the pursuers; for as their enmity is against me only, if I am slain it will be the redemption of many.” The chariot was accordingly turned round, and the king plunged amidst his foemen and was slain; on which the pursuit and slaughter ceased. That man, says the old legend, by giving up his life, in his repentance, to save his people, attained to the Lord’s peace.
In the old Irish Canon Law, there was a merciful provision to save the family of a dead man from destitution if he died in debt; namely, that certain specified valuable articles—such as a cow, a horse, a garment, a bed, etc.—belonged to the family, and could not be claimed by a creditor.
The yellow plague wrought dreadful havoc in Ireland—and indeed desolated all Europe—in the seventh century. In Ireland at least it appears to have attacked adults more than children, so that everywhere through the country numbers of little children, whose mothers and fathers had been carried off, were left helpless and starving. At this same time lived Ultan,the kindly bishop of Ardbraccan in Meath. It wrung his heart to witness these piteous scenes of human suffering all round him; and he took steps, so far as he was able, to relieve and save the little children. He collected all the orphan babes he could find, and brought them to his monastery; and procuring a great number of cows’ teats, and filling them with milk, he put them into the children’s mouths with his own hands, and thus contrived to feed the little creatures. The number increased daily, so that at last he had as many as 150; and as he was not able to do all the work himself, he had to call in others to assist him in his noble labour of love.
It is proper to remark here that we find other examples in history of the use of a cow’s teat for milk-feeding, and that in Russia infants are often fed in this way.
All this is remembered to St. Ultan down to the present day; for he is often mentioned in old Irish histories, almost always with a remark something like this:—“Little children are always playing round Ultan of Ardbraccan.”
It would be difficult to find an instance where charity is presented in greater beauty and tenderness than it is in this simple story of the good bishop Ultan.