Part 8 (1/2)

[86] _Diction_.-This tract contains a description of arms and ornaments which might well pa.s.s for a poetic flight of fancy, had we not articles of such exquisite workmans.h.i.+p in the Royal Irish Academy, which prove incontrovertibly the skill of the ancient artists of Erinn. This is the description of a champion's attire:--”A red and white cloak flutters about him; a golden brooch in that cloak, at his breast; a s.h.i.+rt of white, kingly linen, with gold embroidery at his skin; a white s.h.i.+eld, with gold fastenings at his shoulder; a gold-hilted long sword at his left side; a long, sharp, dark green spear, together with a short, sharp spear, with a rich band and carved silver rivets in his hand.”--O'Curry, p. 38. We give an ill.u.s.tration on previous page of a flint weapon of a ruder kind.

[87] _Brains_.--My friend, Denis Florence MacCarthy, _Esq_., M.R.I.A., our poet _par excellence_, is occupied at this moment in versifying some portions of this romantic story. I believe he has some intention of publis.h.i.+ng the work in America, as American publishers are urgent in their applications to him for a complete and uniform edition of his poems, including his exquisite translations from the dramatic and ballad literature of Spain. We hope Irish publishers and the Irish people will not disgrace their country by allowing such a work to be published abroad. We are too often and too justly accused of deficiency in cultivated taste, which unfortunately makes trashy poems, and verbose and weakly-written prose, more acceptable to the majority than works produced by highly-educated minds. Irishmen are by no means inferior to Englishmen in natural gifts, yet, in many instances, unquestionably they have not or do not cultivate the same taste for reading, and have not the same appreciation of works of a higher cla.s.s than the lightest literature. Much of the fault, no doubt, lies in the present system of education: however, as some of the professors in our schools and colleges appear to be aware of the deficiency, we may hope for better things.

[88] _Lands_.--Lhuid a.s.serts that the names of the princ.i.p.al commanders in Gaul and Britain who opposed Caesar, are Irish Latinized.

[89] _Received_.--”They are said to have fled into Ireland, some for the sake of ease and quietness, others to keep their eyes untainted by Roman insolence.”--See Harris' Ware. The Brigantes of Waterford, Tipperary, and Kilkenny, are supposed to have been emigrants, and to have come from the colony of that name in Yorks.h.i.+re.

[90] _Fear_.--”In spem magis quam ob formidinem.”

[91] _Merchants_.--”Melius aditus portusque per commercia et negotiatores cognitis.”

[92] _Island.--Vita Julii Agric. c._ 24.

[93] _Year.--Hist. Rer. Angl_. lib. ii. c. 26.

[94] _Aitheach Tuatha_.--The word means rentpayers, or rentpaying tribes or people. It is probably used as a term of reproach, and in contradiction to the free men. It has been said that this people were the remnants of the inhabitants of Ireland before the Milesians colonized it. Mr. O'Curry denies this statement, and maintains that they were Milesians, but of the lower cla.s.ses, who had been cruelly oppressed by the magnates of the land.

[95] _State_.--”Evil was the state of Ireland during his reign: fruitless the corn, for there used to be but one grain on the stalk; fruitless her rivers; milkless her cattle; plentiless her fruit, for there used to be but one acorn on the oak.”--Four Masters, p. 97.

[96] _Morann_.--Morann was the inventor of the famous ”collar of gold.”

The new monarch appointed him his chief Brehon or judge, and it is said that this collar closed round the necks of those who were guilty, but expanded to the ground when the wearer was innocent. This collar or chain is mentioned in several of the commentaries on the Brehon Laws, as one of the ordeals of the ancient Irish. The Four Masters style him ”the very intelligent Morann.”

[97] _Woods_.--Four Masters, p. 97.

[98] _Magh Bolg_.--Now Moybolgue, a parish in the county Cavan.

[99] _Teachtmar_, i.e., the legitimate, Four Masters, p. 99.--The history of the revolt of the Attacotti is contained in one of the ancient tracts called Histories. It is termed ”The Origin of the Boromean Tribute.” There is a copy of this most valuable work in the Book of Leinster, which, it will be remembered, was compiled in the twelfth century. The details which follow above concerning the Boromean Tribute, are taken from the same source.

[100] _Polished_.--Keating, p. 264.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ORATORY AT GALLARUS, CO. KERRY.]

CHAPTER VII.

Tuathal-Conn ”of the Hundred Battles”--The Five Great Roads of Ancient Erinn--Conn's Half--Conaire II.--The Three Cairbres--Cormac Mac Airt--His Wise Decision--Collects Laws--His Personal Appearance-The Saltair of Tara written in Cormac's Reign--Finn Mac c.u.mhaill--His Courts.h.i.+p with the Princess Ailbhe--The Pursuit of Diarmaid and Grainne--Nial ”of the Nine Hostages”--Dathi.

Tuathal reigned for thirty years, and is said to have fought no less than 133 battles with the Attacotti. He was at last slain himself by his successor, Nial, who, in his turn, was killed by Tuathal's son. Conn ”of the Hundred Battles” is the next Irish monarch who claims more than a pa.s.sing notice. His exploits are a famous theme with the bards, and a poem on his ”Birth” forms part of the _Liber Flavus Fergusorum_, a MS.

volume of the fifteenth century. His reign is also remarkable for the mention of five great roads[101] which were then discovered or completed. One of these highways, the Eiscir Riada, extended from the declivity on which Dublin Castle now stands, to the peninsula of Marey, at the head of Galway Bay. It divided Conn's half of Ireland from the half possessed by Eoghan Mor, with whom he lived in the usual state of internecine feud which characterized the reigns of this early period.

One of the princ.i.p.al quarrels between these monarchs, was caused by a complaint which Eoghan made of the s.h.i.+pping arrangements in Dublin.

Conn's half (the northern side) was preferred, and Eoghan demanded a fair division. They had to decide their claims at the battle of Magh Lena.[102] Eoghan was a.s.sisted by a Spanish chief, whose sister he had married. But the Iberian and his Celtic brother-in-law were both slain, and the mounds are still shown which cover their remains.

Conn was succeeded by Conaire II., the father of the three Cairbres, who were progenitors of important tribes. Cairbre Muse gave his name to six districts in Munster; the territory of Corcabaiscinn, in Clare, was named after Cairbre Bascain; and the Dalriada of Antrim were descended from Cairbre Riada. He is also mentioned by Bede under the name of Reuda,[103] as the leader of the Scots who came from Hibernia to Alba.

Three centuries later, a fresh colony of Dalriadans laid the foundation of the Scottish monarchy under Fergus, the son of Erc. Mac Con was the next Ard-Righ or chief monarch of Ireland. He obtained the royal power after a battle at Magh Mucruimhe, near Athenry, where Art the Melancholy, son of Con of the Hundred Battles, and the seven sons of Oilioll Oluim, were slain.

The reign of Cormac Mac Airt is unquestionably the most celebrated of all our pagan monarchs. During his early years he had been compelled to conceal himself among his mother's friends in Connaught; but the severe rule of the usurper Mac Con excited a desire for his removal, and the friends of the young prince were not slow to avail themselves of the popular feeling. He, therefore, appeared unexpectedly at Tara, and happened to arrive when the monarch was giving judgment in an important case, which is thus related: Some sheep, the property of a widow, residing at Tara, had strayed into the queen's private lawn, and eaten the gra.s.s. They were captured, and the case was brought before the king.

He decided that the trespa.s.sers should be forfeited; but Cormac exclaimed that his sentence was unjust, and declared that as the sheep had only eaten the fleece of the land, they should only forfeit their own fleece. The _vox populi_ applauded the decision. Mac Con started from his seat, and exclaimed: ”That is the judgment of a king.” At the same moment he recognized the prince, and commanded that he should be seized; but he had already escaped. The people now recognized their rightful king, and revolted against the usurper, who was driven into Munster. Cormac a.s.sumed the reins of government at Tara, and thus entered upon his brilliant and important career, A.D. 227.